Silver Heart of The Web
by Sierra-021
Summary: Not willing to leave another friend to die after numerous tragic losses, Peter Parker finds a way to save both Silver Sable and the world. From there, both Peter and Sable get a second chance to reflect about how they truly feel about each other and whether they'll act upon those emotions. (Begins at the Ends of the World arc in the Amazing Spider-Man with a different ending)
1. Chapter 1

- **Hey guys, what's up? I want to first mention the fact that this is the first story I've written for this site so I just want to ask that you take it a bit easy on me when it comes to pointing out the wrongs that I may have done here. I guess the reason I wrote this was because I was not happy with the way the "Ends of the World Arc" in the Amazing Spider-Man series ended. I pretty much stopped reading the comics after that because I do not like how they're handling Peter Parker's character the way they have so far. Another reason would be that I'm a fond fan of Peter Parker and Silver Sablinova as a couple together and other than Maximus Reborn's story "Everyone Loves Spidey" and BlueInfernoX's story, "Tainted Web"; there are very few other stories out there that feature them as a pairing together. (Both fanfics are great by the way, take the time to read them if you don't read my lack lustre writing).**

- **This story in a quick overview is pretty much my interpretation of how the Ends of the World arc should've ended with Peter Parker being able to save both Silver Sable and the world. If you're reading this, I assume you already have read the Ends of the World arc in the Amazing Spider-Man, if not, be wary of some spoilers. Note the fact that Sable during the course of this Arc tries to tell Peter Parker her true feelings towards him and that in a sense is where my story branches off from the comic. The only part that will follow the basis of the comic arc is the main idea of the Ends of the World one, after that the story will be shifted into something more original of my ideas in how Peter Parker and Silver Sablinova will end up together. **

"God damn it" was all Peter Parker could mutter before returning to catch his breath and reassess the grim situation before him. His mind rewinds back to how this crisis began in hopes of finding something he missed that could help him now...

Many hours ago, Doctor Octopus in his reduced physical form had taken control of the Earth's atmosphere with his Octobot satellites and claimed to the world that he did so to solve the problem of global warming. Many of the world's leaders and the respective people they represented were convinced that Ock was telling the truth. Worst yet was the fact that he had reformed the Sinister Six and the majority of the world was now calling them heroes while Peter aka Spider-Man was the bad guy this time courtesy of Doc Ock telling them that he was a terrorist to his plan. The many years of experience Peter Parker had in fighting the good doctor made him realize that helping the world was the last thing Ock wanted to do. Peter knew that this time he could not beat Octavius on his own and first sought out the Avengers for help in fighting the Sinister Six. Spider-Man's first attempt at beating Ock and his tools was simply to strike at them with a sudden attack courtesy of him and the Avengers...only for the plan to completely backfire. While they were able to get rid of Electro with relative ease, the Avengers were quickly defeated in succession by the others. Peter himself was left temporarily paralyzed despite his Anti-Six suit's efforts and would've been finished off by Doc Ock himself had not one of his old allies, Silver Sable, come to save him albeit discreetly. Secretly blowing up the Quin-jet that was close to Octavius from afar, Sable managed to fool Ock into thinking that reinforcements had arrived to help Spider-Man and as such he promptly retreated. Silver Sable later revealed herself and told Peter that she was there to help and along with the only uncaptured Avenger, Black Widow, Spider-Man set out to destroy the bases that Ock lead them to believe was needed to construct his missiles.

Amongst the many fights that followed, Peter and his two allies were able to defeat and confine Sandman (a member of the Six) within a single grain of sand and interrogate info out of him as well as Spider-Man somehow convincing Mysterio to help them find Doc Ock. When they arrived at the location Mysterio told them, Spider-Man and Co soon found themselves fighting against the captured Avengers who were under control by Octavius with help from his Octobots. Peter managed to subdue the mind controlled Spider-Woman while Sable was able to knock out the similarly controlled Captain America. Black Widow was able to take down Hawkeye but she was rendered unconscious by Ironman. Peter took a right punch by the mind controlled Thor before Mysterio managed to remove the Octobots from the conscious Avengers.

Right then and there, Octavius launched his missiles into the atmosphere which lead to having the freed Thor, Ironman, and Red Hulk promptly take to the skies in an effort to intercept the missiles before any could cause damage. Mysterio, the slippery bastard, deserted them after telling them where Ock's underwater base was and weakly wishing Peter and Sable good luck...

Realizing that nothing he learned could help him now, Peter brought his mind back to now and immediately his thought was that he and Sable were in a very bad way. While they had largely defeated the Sinister Six, Rhino was still unaccounted for and Spider-Man knew for a fact that Ock kept him behind in his base as part of his unknown final plans for the world.

"I just had to knock out Jessica" thought Peter. He knew that him and Sable could use her or any of the unconscious Avenger's help right about now and silently cursed himself for not holding back enough to have that situation.

Peter moved his face to take a look at Sable who looked as though she was ready to fall asleep. It was understandable as both of them had been fighting together against many of Ock's allies from the start of this crisis. The exhaustion and pain was evident in both of them although it was more so in Sable's case as she in all respects was still a regular person.

"...A very hot mercenary who is still a normal person yet still helping me despite the craziness in my problems" Peter muses to himself. He was not an idiot, despite many convincing arguments from his many acquaintances, he knew that Silver is in all regards a very attractive woman but also the fact that there was more to her than just looks. The fact that a woman like her was still willingly standing by his side despite the overwhelming odds was someone that Peter could not help but respect, although she had long won Spider-Man's respect in the years they've worked together.

Spider-Man walked over to where Sable was and promptly asks "Are you alright now, Sable? Old Ock wouldn't want us to keep him waiting for his overdue beat down."

Silver on her part smiled mentally at Spider-Man's attempt to lighten the situation, the habit of making light of anything with a joke or quip was something she had come to expect from him and while others weren't fond of his need to do so, she secretly enjoyed his jokes every now and then though she would probably never tell him that.

"I'll be fine, Spider-Man. Let's finish this with **our** victory." Peter simply nodded at her in response and both made their way to the vehicle that Mysterio left for them to use in getting to Ock's base.

After a brief ride in submerging towards Ock's underwater base, Peter and Silver found themselves looking at Ock's base or Octahedron as the doc named it in plain view. Peter was preparing everything that was left in his Anti-Six suit when he found himself thinking about the recent losses he had suffered. Marla Jameson's violent death was still vivid in his mind, not because of how it happened but it was the fact that he had been right there with her along with the other New Avengers and was still unable to prevent that tragedy from happening right in front of him.

Peter quickly shook his head to get rid of such thoughts. "I won't let that happen again, I've already vowed that no one dies under my protection. I won't fail", Spider-Man said to himself.

Sable took notice of this and asked "Are you al-" only to be cut off midsentence by him. Silver to her surprise saw him place his hands on her shoulders and heard Spider-Man simply say "Sable...please be careful".

As Peter said this, Sable knew that he was looking right into her eyes despite the mask and although she was curious as to why he said such words to her, she felt the need to reassure him that she would definitely do what he told her of. "I will, Spider but please remember that we are here for the sake of the world, we have to win this." Silver stated while gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I know and...thank you" Peter replied before removing his hands from her shoulders.

For some reason, Sable found herself a bit disappointed that his hands were no longer on her person but she quickly refocused on the task at hand as their vehicle was coming to a stop at the Octahedron's docks.

Both Sable and Peter knew that time was of the essence and as soon the vehicle landed at the dock and the doors opened, both sprinted out in order to find and stop Octavius before it was too late.

"We should've brought reinforcements" shouted Sable as she ran through the corridors of the Octahedron with Spider-Man.

"Who? three unconscious Avengers? Spider-Man replied. Peter had thought of the same thing before they got to the base but as all three remaining Avengers were still out cold and with Mysterio running out on them, he and Sable had no choice but to go it alone with just the two of them.

"The Sandman? After all, you convinced Mysterio to help us" Sable continued.

Peter sighed to himself in his head before replying "Only for about ten minutes before he left us out to dry and the fact that we poured acid all over Flint's one grain of thought for info tells me that he isn't too keen on the idea of helping us".

Sable cursed silently in frustration as she knew Spider-Man was right, they were going to have to win this by themselves.

They ran through the halls of the empty corridors for six minutes and when they turned at a corner, Peter's spider sense warned him that danger was coming for them. He quickly stopped to try and see where the danger was coming from. Sable saw Spider-Man stop and slowed her pace, asking "Why are you stopping?" "Something's coming for us right now, I'm trying to figure where it's coming from", Peter said as he was intensely trying to pinpoint where the danger was coming from.

When his spider sense gave away a vague direction as to where, Peter became shocked and yelled out "Sable, Get away from that wall!"

Sable, taking heed of what he said, was about to do so when the wall behind her suddenly broke apart and a large shadow of a giant hand grabbed her by the waist, preventing her from moving at all...

Peter immediately rushed to her and tried to remove the grip that was kept around Silver's waist. Despite his super human strength, Peter found himself unable to even budge a finger on the hand. Spider-Man quickly looked up to see that it was Rhino who was holding Sable fast to her spot.

"Alexei, please don't do this, Ock isn't helping you at all. He's trying to end the world!" Peter pleaded.

Rhino in response simply stated "I know...and that's why I'm helping comrade Octavius."

"What!?" was all Peter could say at his shocking statement while still trying to wrench Silver free from his grip.

"When I realized that my beloved Oksana died in our world, I asked myself how such a world could exist where that is allowed to happen. To that end, when Octavius asked me to aid him in destroying that world...I agreed to do so. As it was your fault that she died, my only wish for **you** is to go through that same pain I had when I lost my Vozlûblennyj."

As he said this, Peter realized that the base's foundations were weakening and sea water was slowly but steadily filling up the base.

"I will hold your comrade here and not move. I will do so until this place is submerged. I will die but so will your friend...and you will undoubtly blame yourself for that. I want you to suffer from that guilt." Rhino stated to Peter as more water began pouring in from the sides and ceiling.

"Alexei, please don't..." Peter pleaded to no avail as he was still trying to free Sable with everything he had.

"Sable, he's too strong! I can't-" Peter was cut off when he heard her say something, something he would never want to hear.

"Go! Stop Octavius, please..." Silver asked Spider-Man who was still trying to free her. "No," Peter replied, "I can get you out of this!" Silver Sable knew that Spider-Man would never leave her behind to die and felt glad that he cared for her, but she also knew that time was running out. Octavius would no doubt execute his nefarious plans soon and someone had to stop him.

"Please go, for Symkaria, for your beloved New York and for that girl you mentioned, find Octavius and stop him!" Silver pleaded to Spider-Man.

As past mistakes began to creep back into his mind, Peter quickly stated "I've already vowed that no one dies under my protection."

"Everyone will die if you don't go, please!" Silver pleaded, imploring desperately for Spider-Man to go and save the world from Octavius's madness.

However the memories of all the losses Peter had suffered due to his mistakes quickly came back to remind him that his responsibility would not let him do so. Something else, tugging at Peter's heart, was also telling him to save her though that something was largely dwarfed by his sense of responsibility. The vow that Peter swore upon Gwen, Marla, everyone else he had failed to save, and his Uncle Ben's name would lead him to state his next words, words that would leave Silver Sable to be completely astounded and even more impressed by his character.

"**Silver...I am not leaving you here**!" Peter, with determination and assurance in his voice stated.

Peter's simple statement immediately stopped Silver from telling him to go; amazed at the fact that Spider-Man would risk losing more time to save the world just to save her was enough to invoke a seldom felt feeling of warmth in her heart. Something within Sable told her to believe that Spider-Man will find a way to both save her and stop Octavius and though she wanted to reply with something strong to his statement, she found herself only being to nod in agreement with Peter's words. Finally making Silver Sable understand that he'll find a way to save her, Peter quickly used every bit of his brainpower into finding a way for Alexei to relinquish the grip around Sable.

He knew his strength could hurt Rhino as he had done so before but that was through the few exposed areas that his suit did not protect, Spider-Man hurriedly scanned Rhino for any exposed areas that he could hammer with his punches and force Alexei to free Sable from his grip.

"I really wish his current weak points were right in front of my eyes right now!" Peter said...then stopped. "Wait, his eyes? Rhino's eyes are exposed, aren't they?"

Peter immediately saw the merit in that thought and took a look at Alexei's head. Sure enough, his eyes were about the only exposed weak points that Peter could exploit. The only thing that bothered Peter was the fact that in order to actually force Rhino to relinquishing his grip on Sable, he would have to punch both his eyes with all his strength which he meant he had to not hold back.

While the thought of permanently blinding Rhino was something Peter would never do in normal circumstances, he quickly faced the fact that his situations were never normal and Silver Sable's life, someone Peter had grown to care about, could be saved overrode that hesitancy.

"Besides, a blind Rhino is better than a dead Rhino" Peter morbidly thought to himself.

He quickly jumped on the arm that held Sable captive and climbed up to his face to which then he shot two web lines from his web shooters and pulled back. Silver Sable saw this and immediately knew what Spider-Man was thinking and though she was surprised that he was attacking Rhino in such a brutal manner, she knew Spider-Man was doing so in order to save her and that made her appreciate him even more than she had before.

Peter in the midst of shooting his webs was a bit taken back by the fact that Rhino was not attempting to stop him, he just stood there with an expressionless face albeit still holding Sable down with the intention of drowning them both. Peter then realized as his web lines landed on the targeted areas of Rhino's body that Alexei did not have the will to live anymore and simply wanted to end his own life in a way that would make Peter's life hell. That was all he wanted now...either that or Alexei just wanted to be with Oksana while taking away someone that Peter cared for so he would suffer as he did in life.

"No more, I'm not losing Sable. Not now, not ever." Peter thought as he pulled the two shot web lines and pulled with all his strength until the last second, at which point he let go of the web lines and launched himself with his two fists clenched and extended aiming at their intended targets.

The second that Peter's fists made contact with Rhino's eyes, Rhino immediately screamed and launched his head back in incredible pain. Peter did not hold back at all with his blows, as he put all the superhuman strength he had in him within his punches...all of the 10 tons of strength that he possessed was directed in those two punches towards their targets. As Peter connected with his attack, he quickly leapt off and stuck to the wall on the side albeit with some difficulty as the walls were semi soaked with sea water. At this point, the water level was currently up to Peter's waist and was still steadily climbing. Spider-Man disregarded that thought for the moment and wondered if his strike worked.

Peter got the result he wanted when Rhino's left hand on instinct let go of Silver Sable's waist and went to cover his heavily indented eye sockets that was bleeding a fair bit in response to the brutal way Rhino's eyes were crushed.

Peter Parker knew that this was his chance and fluidly leapt off the wall to catch Silver Sable and put her on his back. She was understandably breathing in deep breaths as Rhino's grip had partially ensnared her lungs and ribs. Sable was still able to wrap her arms around Spider-Man's neck as he quickly left the area with her on his back, leaving behind Rhino who was writhing in pain on the partially flooded floor.

"Silver, Can you hear me? Are you going to be alright?" Peter worriedly asked as he ran down the corridor to where Ock was with Silver Sable clutching her arms tightly around his neck while on his back.

"I...I'll be fine, Spider. I'll be ready when we beat Octavius", Sable managed to mutter out, relieving Peter's worry for the moment. That relief was quickly overtaken by anxiety as Peter knew they were going to have to face Ock next and while the time it took him to save Sable was very short, every minute that Peter wasn't fighting Ock was another minute gone in delaying his plans and stopping him.

With that, he doubled the speed that he was running in until Peter found what most likely the control centre was for the Octahedron. "Silver? Get ready cause we're here" Peter told her as she got off his back and readied her weapons.

"On three, Spider." Sable said and with the count of that, both Spider-Man and Silver Sable stormed into the control room anticipating the worst...only to see in surprise that no one was there. No trap and no ambush awaited them and the villain that both Peter and Silver had come to defeat was nowhere in sight.

"What?" Sable asked, "Where is Octavius?" as she held out her guns in a cautious manner, ready to fire at the slightest hint of attack.

Peter looked around, using his Anti-Six suit's scanners to see where Ock was hiding. As he shifted his direction to the right, his scanners picked up something towards one of the chairs that looked to be seated to the main control panel.

Spider-Man made his way towards the chair and turned it around...to find the corpse of Octavius himself seated there with his metal appendages lying in the flooded floor lifelessly, blood flowing out of his lifeless eyes and mouth.

Silver Sable saw this and in shock, asked "how did he die?" Peter knew that some time before this, Ock was already dying from the radioactivity that bounded him to his metal limbs and in all likeliness probably succumbed to his death as Peter and Sable were making their way to stop his plans.

"He was already dying from radioactive poisoning that stopped his body's ability to heal. My guess is that he finally succumbed to the poison and died." Peter stated emotionlessly.

Silver Sable was a little bit surprised to hear that bit of news but did not feel sorry in the slightest that the terror was dead. She was about to suggest that they leave when her eyes caught sight of what seemed to be a countdown meter.

At once after a second glance, she recognized in horror what it was. "Spider, this place is about to self destruct!" Sable quickly told Spider-Man as he rushed to see why that was happening and if he could stop it.

"Oh no", Peter said as he typed into the computer and saw why the self destruct sequence began.

"This base is set to ignite the Earth's atmosphere with the Octobot satellites in the event that Ock couldn't live long enough to do so himself, the self activating encrypted key code set them to do so at the moment this place begins to explode!" Silver was shocked to say the least when she heard this.

"Can you stop the sequence?!" Sable desperately asked.

Peter quickly began to work and see if he could, type madly away at the computer. He quickened his typing when the countdown meter was down to a minute and twenty five seconds and saw that there was a way to stop the ignition that would be triggered with the Octobot satellites but the self destruct sequence would still go off.

"One problem at a time..." Peter thought as he furiously typed the thirty six letter encryption keys that were needed to stop the igniting of the world's atmosphere.

With twenty seconds gone, he had already typed the encryption keys towards two of the three columns he had to by-pass. The last one took twelve seconds to shut down and Peter somehow sighed in short term relief. Silver Sable saw this as a sign that they both had averted the crisis and was about to congratulate the Spider when Peter suddenly took her in his arms and sprinting with all his might, sped his way towards their transport at the docks.

"Spider-Man, What's wrong, didn't you stop the sequence?" Sable asked in confusion as she was held tightly in Peter's arms, making her blush a bit at the close contact.

"You're half right, I only managed to stop the primary sequence of Ock's satellites incinerating the Earth's atmosphere but this place is still going to blow". Peter replied as he turned the next corner that faced the docks.

Even running at his superhuman speed, Peter guessed that they had no more than thirty five seconds as he entered the vehicle with Sable still in his arms. Silver Sable as soon as he let her go went to start the vehicle while Peter began adjusting the vehicle to top speeds so they could get away.

"We got about 20 seconds left, punch it!" Peter said. Sable did that just as the first minor explosion hit the base and their vehicle pulled away at its top speeds.

Even with that, Peter knew they were not far enough away from the base yet and hoped in the next ten seconds that their escape vehicle would be fast enough that they get far enough away. Silver Sable sensed his thoughts were not far off from hers and instinctively took Peter's hand with her own as the last ten seconds counted down in his head.

"If something does happen, Spider-Man" Silver Sable began with clear sincerity in her voice "I want you to know that the man you are is the..."

But Peter would not hear what Silver wanted to say to him as her words were drowned out by the noise of the huge detonation of the base. They were barely outside the range of the explosion but the ensuing shockwave was strong enough to knock their escape vehicle, sending Silver Sable flying into Peter. As their getaway transport was blacking out and knocked around, Peter wrapped his arms around Silver Sable and held her in a firm embrace so that no further harm would come to her. Even in the midst of the chaos that was happening around them, Silver Sable felt Spider-Man's arms tighten around her in an effort to protect her and Sable found herself relaxing into his body and held Peter just as tightly around his waist as their getaway transport was still being afflicted with blackouts and knocked around.

After what seemed like an eternity, their transport was finally free from the shockwave's after-effects and went back to a slower but peaceful pace in getting out of the sea. Even though the trouble was past, Silver Sable and Peter Parker still kept their arms around each other, neither individual wanting to part from the other's embrace. They would feel safe again only when they saw the light of day on land.

**In case you didn't know:**

- **Alexei is the first and real name of Rhino and had a wife named Oksana before she was killed by another villain bearing the same name**

- **Vozlûblennyj means "beloved" in Russian**

**The statement that had Peter telling Sable that he would not leave her there was an idea I got from the ending of Halo 4 in one of John-117's statements to Cortana.**

**Well the first chapter in the story so far, folks, I hope it was at least decent enough to read. I'll try to update as frequently as I can. Best way to improve is from the fellow peers so I hope you leave some reviews. Please don't even try to flame me if you hate this, I'll simply just throw it down the deepest junk pile I can find and delete it. **

**-I decided to reupload this chapter with the suggested advice of the spacing of text, especially around the dialogue. It's more or the less the same with some minor edits. Hopefully it's easier to read now and I apologize for not doing so in the first place.**


	2. Chapter 2

**- To all of those who took the time to review the first chapter, I thank you very much for doing so. The advice that was given was very helpful and I hope to break some of my old bad writing habits that I have a tendency of repeating...consciously or not. I'm glad to hear that the majority of you said my writing is decent, I was kind of afraid that it would be a big bore for most of you. Again, my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has read this thus far. **

**- In any case, let us begin the next chapter... **

The lack of his spider sense literally blaring inside his head was more than enough for Peter Parker to believe that the worst was over and both him and Sable were in the clear. "Just another close call to add to the thousands I've had in my career." Peter thought as his mind quickly reflected on the many past situations he'd been through that were similar to this certain one. He turns his head to watch out the window beside him to take one last look at the destroyed remains of the base and with that, Peter quickly realized that Rhino was still in the base when it destroyed itself. He had a adamant feeling that while the Rhino was still alive despite the grievous injury he had inflicted upon him, the chances of him getting out of the base in time was very low and in all likelihood was probably killed in the blast. Peter bowed his head in silence out of respect for the loss as he never wanted Rhino or even Ock to be killed, they just needed to be stopped. Octavius died due to his own disease and Peter admittedly felt a little less responsible for his death than Alexei's but that idea didn't do much to ease his conscience about the deaths that were just added to the long list of the ones he had been through.

That train of thought was thankfully interupted when Peter felt someone shift a bit in his chest and it was then that he noticed Silver was still in his arms, her own arms tight around his waist with her head resting on his chest. Her soft breathing and peaceful expression told Peter that she had fallen asleep on him. It wasn't surprising to Peter as while he knew and trusted the fact that Sable was one of the world's best fighters and occasional mercenary, she was still in the end just a normal human. To say that she was tired would be the greatest understatement as she had literally been fighting along his side from the beginning of this crisis to the end of it. Spider-Man was faring a little bit better in terms of exhaustion due to his super-human physiology and limited healing factor but not by much. Peter felt soreness beyond measure in every fibre of his being and the intense pain that had accumulated from the numerous hits he took in the recent battles only made it worse. He had no idea how long it would take for him to completely recover from this but he secretly hoped it would be a reasonable length of time. While Peter did not want to shirk his superhero duties as Spider-Man, he knew it wouldn't do him much good if he didn't give himself time to mend and heal.

However bad he felt at the moment though, Peter knew that Sable was in the same boat (literally and figuratively) and he didn't have the heart to wake her up.

"I think we both earned a little bit of a break." Peter said softly as he went back to watching out the window waiting for their transport to resurface out of the sea.

It wasn't until the second time that Sable had stirred slightly in her sleep on his chest and Peter looked at her peaceful sleeping form again did he realize that he was unknowingly seeing her on a more personal level. His eyes immediately took notice of her smooth, fair white skin upon her beautiful face and the silver hair that gently caressed it as she breathed contently in her sleep. In the years that Spider-Man had known and worked with Silver Sable, he understood from the first minute that they met that she was a very attractive woman. Peter had on many occasions admitted to himself that Sable was very beautiful in his eyes but this was really the first time that he was able to truly appreciate her beauty at his comfort. Many of the occasions he had worked with her as Spider-Man didn't leave much time for him to do that as it was always a situation of battle or protecting someone important, all of which demanded all the time they could spare.

Though Peter was still in his anti-six suit, he could faintly feel Sable's slim yet very fit body pressing against him. The battle outfit that she was wearing for the most part covered her up perfectly, but it still showed the near perfect curves of her body reasonably well. Peter had no doubts that her outfit was near to skin tight and as such blushed a bit underneath his mask due to the current position he was in with her at the moment. He was resisting the urge to touch her perfect face with tremendous willpower but this turned out to be in vain as before he knew it happened, his left hand briefly and gently brushed her right cheek before he quickly pulled it back in worry that she would wake up. Fortunately, this didn't happen and Peter silently cursed himself for losing to his instincts although he could've sworn he saw Sable's lips twitch upwards when his fingers briefly touched the skin of her face.

When Peter's eyes took a quick glimpse of her soft lips again, he suddenly recalled that it wasn't long ago those same lips were locked with his. It was during a recent time in the past that Sable had kissed Peter for helping her in disarming a bomb that had been brought to New York courtesy of Flag Smasher. After quickly beating and webbing up Flag Smasher along with his followers, Spider-Man stopped Sable from pulling the wrong wire in an effort to disable the bomb and with the guidance of his spider sense promptly removed the correct one. What followed soon afterwards was something Peter did not expect in the slightest. As soon as he had finished joking with the mayor who showed up later to remove the evidence of the bombing attempt, Spider-Man saw Sable's hands reach towards his mask and gently pulled it upwards halfway where the lower part of his face was exposed. He was going to ask what she was doing but got his answer beforehand as Sable pressed her lips against his after telling him to accept the "reward". Although he was completely surprised by the sudden action, Peter found himself enjoying her kiss and would've stayed longer to enjoy it more if it wasn't for the fact he had more troubling issues he had to deal with that day. With much hesitation, he remembered, he broke away from her kiss slowly and with a quick word of apology, swung away.

"I wonder if there was more to that kiss than just a gesture of gratitude?" Peter asked himself and then just as quickly wondered why he would ask such a thing.

He would not have time to contemplate his question as he felt their transport surface out of the sea, the sudden movement waking up Sable from her sleep. She quickly readjusted and saw that she was still held in Spider-Man's arms which meant that she had fallen asleep on his being.

"I trust you slept well?" Peter asked in light humour as Sable gently backed away from his arms, feeling a quick twinge of regret as she did so. She fought down the urge to blush with some difficulty as she replied.

"Well enough, considering the situation."

Sable felt as though what she had just said wasn't completely true. She found it rather very comfortable sleeping on Spider-Man's chest though she quickly deemed the reason as to why was due to her exhaustion. Sable found it odd, however, that she knew that wasn't the only reason but closed the thought when she saw Spider-Man open the top hatch of their transport. The rush of fresh air that came in from the outside was refreshing to Sable's senses as she followed Spider-Man out of the hatch. The blue sky and the open view of the sea that caught her eyes brought a slight smile to her face as she took in the sight. Silver knew it was only thanks to Spider-Man's unwavering determination in saving her from Rhino that she was able to see the light of day again. As she felt the warmth of the sun, Sable looked over to Spider-Man who was looking out in the horizon and the strong feeling of gratitude she had for him resurfaced immediately in her heart. More times than she could count, her life had been saved by his efforts and the idea of not being able to pay him back was something Sable would never take into consideration. She knew that Spider-Man was never one to take rewards for his heroic deeds as he had mentioned to her on many occasions it was a strong sense of responsibilty he felt obligated to follow that led him to continue being a superhero.

"However Spider-Man feels about it, there must be something I can do to repay his efforts." Sable wondered. Her mind was going through ideas as to what it was she could do for him when one certain idea stuck out amongst the many others in her head.

Sable remembered recently that she had kissed Spider-Man as a reward of thanks after he had helped her in stopping a war crime that the arrogant Flag Smasher and his blind followers almost came close to succeeding in committing. While the thought of kissing Spider-Man again this time had strong merit, the one thing that held Sable back from immediately acting upon it was the question of whether the kiss would be out of gratitude again or something else completely. When Sable kissed Spider-Man that day, she found herself enjoying the feeling of her lips locked with his and was surprised to feel a bit of regret when his lips parted from hers. She admitted to herself that Spider-Man was quite the skilled kisser and since that first kiss had struggled to settle the question of whether or not she saw him as more than just a trustworthy ally, a question that she had long before asked herself in the many times they've worked together. Were she to kiss Spider-Man again, Sable felt an annoying feeling of worry that he would mistake it for something else and that would create more trouble than she'd want especially when she hadn't yet confirmed what she truly felt for him.

It was only when Sable felt Spider-Man tap her shoulder that she refocused back towards their current surroundings.

"Is something wrong, Spider-Man?" she inquired.

"I was just about to ask you that since you didn't respond when I said your name. Just letting you know that a certain group of friends of mine are on their way to pick us up." Peter said, as he pointed his finger towards the direction of north of where they were.

Sable turned her eyes towards the direction Spider-Man had indicated and saw a ship moving towards them. On the frontside side of the vessel read the name "The Zenith", a name she instantly recognized. It was the name of the laboratory ship of Horizon Labs, allies of Spider-Man that had helped him by developing and giving the technology to help deal with the now defeated Sinister Six. Sable gave a small sigh of relief at the fact that they had not been forgotten but soon felt a dual feeling of disappointment of the fact that she was no longer alone with Spider-Man. She didn't know why she felt this way but quickly suppressed the feeling albeit with more difficulty than she initially thought.

Peter caught the minor look of disappointment on Sable's face before she quickly changed back to her calm demeanor and wondered if something was actually wrong.

"Is something on your mind, Sable?" he asked.

Sable had a gut feeling that while there was a chance she'd have to talk to Spider-Man about how she might've felt towards him, she knew now was not the time to tell him and simply shook her head and smiled before replying.

"Nothing, Spider. Just wondering why it took them so long to find us."

Peter knew that something was up but decided to drop the topic as he didn't want to push it. "Well, we are in the middle of a very vast sea. Stands to reason that it'd take them a while to locate us...despite the tech they have being better than what most gov't spooks use." Peter joked.

Sable just gave a small chuckle at his quip. "I'll concede that fact, Spider-Man."

As soon as the Zenith pulled up next to their drifting transport, Peter climbed up towards the deck with Silver on his back where they were greeted and welcomed by Max Modell, leader of the ship as well as the think tank of Horizon.

"Spider-Man, Ms. Sablinova. Welcome aboard the Zenith, Horizon's leading laboratory vessel. The fact that our scanners picked up a considerable explosion from where Doctor Octopus's base was what I hope means that the crisis is over?" Max inquired. Peter was a bit hesitant to answer that as he would have to mention both Ock and Rhino's death with the bittersweet victory, but they were going to have to find out sooner or later so he decided to tell him the truth.

"We won, Max...but Doc Ock and Rhino of the Sinister Six are dead." Peter told him bluntly.

Max to his credit was only a bit shocked when he heard this and asked something that he knew was out of Spider-Man's character but he had to be sure. "Did you kil- He began before being interrupted by Silver Sable who knew exactly what Max was about to ask Spider-Man.

"Octavius died of the radioactivity poisoning that he had been suffering from long before we could stop him and Rhino was too injured to get out of the base in time before it self destructed". Sable said in Spider-Man's defense.

Max, trusting her word for Spider-Man, dropped the question as he got the answer he needed to hear and simply smiled at the both of them in genuine gratitude for their victory. "Then on behalf of Horizon Labs and the world, allow me to be the first to say thank you both for your efforts in keeping the world safe." he stated while holding out his hand.

Spider-Man acknowledged the gesture with a nod and shook his hand and replied. "We couldn't have done so without Horizon's help in beating the Sinister Six, Max. You guys deserve more credit than you give yourselves, right Sable?"

"Indeed, and you have both our utmost thanks for your help in our fight." Sable stated as she shook Max's hand.

It was then that Sajani, one of Max's employees, made herself present when she ran towards the deck. "Boss, incoming message from the Avengers. Might want to take a look." Max nodded and followed her back to the communications room. Peter and Sable went along as well to let the recovered Avengers know that all was well and the world was safe again. After a brief walk within the corridors of the ship, they entered a rather large room with monitors all over that allowed for face to face communications to occur. "Patch them through, Ms. Sajani." Max instructed. Sajani quickly pressed a few buttons and within a few seconds, the face of Captain America was seen within one of the monitors.

"Mr. Modell, did you find Spider-Man and Silver Sable?" Captain America asked. Max simply nodded in response and stepped back, allowing Captain America to see both of the individuals he had just inquired about. A visible expression of relief was seen on his face and he quickly smiled before asking "Did you stop Octavius from executing his plan, Spider-Man?"

Peter took in a breath before he replied "We won Cap. I'll give you the detailed version of what happened when you guys get here. I'm just glad the rest of the Avengers are all right considering the fact that we had to knock both you and Jess out cold." Peter felt that the details of both Ock and Rhino's death wasn't really something that could just be casually talked about over a monitor, he'd prefer to reveal the news in person when they got here.

"That's good enough for me, son. We're on our way to you now, hold tight...and it was a good thing that you knocked us out, just don't make a habit of it, alright?" Captain America asked in good humour.

Peter and Sable simply laughed softly at that.

"No promises Cap." he said and with that, the communication link turned off.

**- Chapter two took some time because I'm not the best at writing intimate and romantic parts so it took a lot of following better examples in other stories and heavy amounts of thinking on my part. Simple reason as to why is because I've never really wrote a romantic story before this. I took into account some of the advice I was given by most people, namely the spacing of the chapters so that it wouldn't feel like a burden to read... I'm hoping I did better with that along with the dialogues. All that aside though, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Though it was challenging for me, I enjoyed writing the individual reflections of both Peter and Sable's thoughts on their feelings for each other and the initial beginnings of what they should make of them. **

**- Again reviews are welcome for the sake of improvement and I'll try to update as frequently as possible.**


	3. Chapter 3

- **First of all, I just want to thank alostt5 and TS24 for taking the time to review. I'm relieved to see that there are others out there who are disappointed with the way Marvel has taken Peter Parker's character so far. The fact that you guys are still reading this is a very pleasant surprise because I'm still a long way from calling myself a decent writer. **

**- I'm still learning in terms of writing on how to write specific romance parts and intimate settings so if you guys have any advice with that, I'd be more than happy to hear about them. I got asked once if I was planning to have a physical romantic scene or a lemon as most call it in this and to be honest, I'm not really sure because I've never done that before in my writing and I don't know how to go about with it. That's not saying that it won't be a possiblity but I'm gonna have to put out all the stops if I do decide to do that. Again, any good advice is welcome.**

**We'll cross that bridge when we get there though. For now, let's begin the next chapter... **

Peter Parker and Silver Sablinova were both currently waiting for the Avengers to arrive in a private room aboard the Zenith. Max had told them that until the Avengers arrived, they were welcome to wait and rest from their recent battle. He added the fact that the Zenith was going to stay behind to help with the salvaging of the destroyed Octahedron and the search for the corpses of Rhino and Octavius. It was Sable who, much to Peter's initial surprise, requested that both her and Spider-Man would require some privacy and silence as they took time to recover. While he was at first confused as to why she would ask that, Peter quickly figured out the reason. Both he and Sable knew that the staff of Horizon Labs who were on board the ship were more than likely going to ask one of them on what exactly had happened in the base. Peter respected all and each of the Horizon Lab employees but he felt that the truth of what actually happened was something he didn't enjoy telling so casually. He had already told Captain America that he'd recount the battle in full details but that was because he and the other Avengers were one of the few individuals Peter trusted. Fortunately, Max seemed to understand and told them that there was a private room near the deck where he had greeted them that they could use in peace and further mentioned that he would tell his employees to leave them alone before excusing himself and leaving.

Now they were both in that room, sitting next to each other in relatively comfortable silence. Peter was going over in his head on how to tell the recent battle to the rest of the Avengers when he remembered that there was something else he had to take care of first. This was something that Peter wanted to do as it only felt right for him to do so.

"Sable..." He began.

Sable turned her face to look at him, hearing the sound of his voice calling her name.

"Yes, Spider-Man?"

"I just wanted to say thank you for helping me from pretty much the start of this mess and sticking to assist me till the end of it." Peter stated in sincere gratefulness. He felt truly thankful that he had someone like Silver Sable as a friend and close ally. Peter knew that he could never have saved the world on his own without her help.

Sable just gave him one of her rare warm smiles as she replied.

"It was my pleasure, Spider-Man. I have already told you before that I would follow you to the ends of the Earth if it meant helping you succeed."

Peter chuckled softly when she said that. The fact that Spider-Man wasn't very well liked in the eyes of the public and to a lesser degree, the super hero community was mostly due to the actions of the infamous wall crawling hater, J. Jonah Jameson, who for reasons Peter couldn't comprehend was the Mayor of New York. The old cheapskate almost always used his political power in finding ways to discredit and belittle Spider-Man which in turn led to many of the citizens and some of his fellow heroes feel very reluctant to help him when he needed it, much less stick with him until the bad guy was beaten.

Sable caught the soft chuckle that Spider-Man had expressed at her words and was puzzled as to why he did so.

"I meant every word I said very seriously, Spider-Man." She said with a slight scowl on her face.

Peter quickly raised his hands in surrender as he panickly tried to explain himself.

"I wasn't laughing at what you said Sable, honest! ...I really do appreciate that you would be willing to help me so much. It's just that not many others would be so quick to help me, y'know? Most people are completely convinced that I'm a menace or that I'm an idiot. I even got called a perv a few times...not sure where that one came from."

Her expression immediately softened as Sable understood what Spider-Man was talking about. Thanks to the slandering and defacing of his name by the wasted efforts of the idiotic Mayor of New York, Jonah Jameson, Spider-Man was almost always alienated by the public despite his continous heroics in saving the city and the world on many occasions. Having worked with Spider-Man so many times before, Sable was able to see for herself that his character was one of a true self sacrificing hero and the complete opposite of what the weak minded public and Mayor of New York were saying about him. Though she never said it out loud to anyone, Sable had always hated the fact that Spider-Man was almost never appreciated for his extraordinary efforts in keeping New York and the world safe.

At the very least, she would let him know now that not all of the world thought of him in such a negative way.

"Spider-Man, I assure you that I do not think of you as such nor would I ever start. In the years that we've known each other and worked together, I have seen the man that you are on the inside. A man who has one of the strongest resolves and heart I've ever felt emanating despite the many opinions and odds that have been against you. You have never faltered in doing what you felt was right and more than once have been I amazed by what you've been able to accomplish."

Peter was astounded with what she had just said about him and felt his respect go higher than it had ever been for Sable. It was rare indeed that Peter was praised at all in his work as Spider-Man and the fact that one of the greatest compliments he had ever recieved was just given to him by the beautiful Symkarian mercenary was more than enough to bring a smile on his face.

"Thanks Sable. A praise coming from you, well...that means a lot to me."

Sable simply smiled warmly at him again when she answered. "No need to thank me, Spider-Man. I am simply being honest from the heart."

Peter and Sable looked into each other's eyes for a moment before they suddenly heard the unmistakable sounds of a jet's engines roaring and slowly slowing down near them. Both individuals exited the private room they were waiting in and went out to see that the Quin-jet, main transport of the Avengers, had arrived. The side door of the jet opened and out exited three of the main Avengers: Captain America, Spider-Woman, and Black Widow. Peter smirked a bit behind his mask as he walked up towards them where Cap held out his hand. Peter took the hand and shook it as he began to speak.

"Glad to see that you're alright, Cap, Natasha." He then turned to Jessica and somehow managed to look ashamed despite the full on mask he was wearing. "Sorry if I hit you too hard, Jess...We were in kind of a rush."

Spider-Woman just grinned as she replied. "It's alright, Spidey. Just remember to hold back a bit of that strength of yours next time, we're both spiders but I'm nowhere as strong as you are."

Everyone present laughed softly at that before Captain America spoke to Silver Sable.

"Ms Sablinova. On behalf of the Avengers and U.S. government, I humbly thank you for helping and fighting alongside Spider-Man during the entirety of this crisis."

Sable just nodded her head respectfully at that. "Think nothing of it, Captain America. Octavius's plans would've affected the entire world and I knew I could not sit back and let that happen."

Cap gave a quick salute as she finished speaking before turning back to Peter. "SHIELD is sending a task force to salvage the Octahedron alongside the Zenith. Do you want to leave or stay and help with the operation?"

Peter looked over to Sable who seemed to have the same line of thought as he did when she nodded slightly at him before he answered.

"We're ready to leave, Cap. I still got to go over the details of what happened... it isn't exactly a pretty tale. "

Cap had a look of understanding on his face and lead the way back towards the Quinjet with both Sable, Peter, and Jessica following. Black Widow was staying behind to lead the SHIELD operation in salvaging the destroyed Octahedron. The super soldier set the coordinates for Symkaria first as Sable had requested that the Avengers drop her off there and soon the Quinjet was in the air, heading towards their first destination.

"We got some time before we reach Symkaria, Spider-Man. Now would be a good time to give us the full account of what happened." Cap said after he turned on the auto pilot.

Peter mentally sighed and turned towards both Cap and Spider-Woman. Sable took a seat next to him as he told the entirety of what transpired after the brief skirmish with the mentally controlled Avengers. He spoke about the confrontation with Rhino within the Octahedron and how he had to brutally injure Rhino in order to save and free Sable from drowning within the villain's grip. Peter then continued with how he and Sable had managed to reach the location of where Octavius's plans were to be executed from only to find that Octavius was already dead long before they could stop him and that he had remotely set the Octobot satellites to ignite the Earth's atmosphere at the moment when the Octahedron would self destruct. Peter told them that he was able to stop the secondary sequence of the remote activation of the Octobot satellites but wasn't able to stop the base from self destructing and mentioned that he and Sable were barely able to make it out of the base in time. When Jessica asked what happened to Rhino, Sable told her that the injuries Spider-Man had inflicted on him earlier had left him likely completely blind and just as likely rendered Rhino unable to leave the base in time before it self destructed. With that, Peter finished talking and everyone was soon silent in the cabin as Captain America and Spider-Woman took the time to understand for themselves what they were just told.

The silence was broken when Jessica was the first to quietly speak up.

"I should let SHIELD know that they should search for the bodies of Octavius and Rhino... don't blame yourself for their deaths, Spidey." Jessica said as she put her hand on his shoulder as a gesture of comfort before leaving to inform the SHIELD task force.

Peter simply nodded though he still felt a bit of guilt at the thought of him being the primary factor in Alexei's death. Captain America seemed to sense his thoughts and he attempted to ease Spider-Man's conscience.

"Don't think this is your fault, son. You did what you had to not only save another life but also the world. You weren't the one who killed Rhino, it was the twisted plans of Octavius that did that."

The mentioning of him having been able to save Sable promptly brought Peter out of his minor bout with his conscience as he realized that the only comforting outcome of this crisis other than the Earth remaining safe was the very fact that he was able to save one of his oldest friends from death itself. Peter took a quick glance of Sable before looking back to Captain America with a small grin on his face.

"Thanks, Cap. I guess when you put it that way, it does make sense."

Captain America just grinned back at him and promptly stated before going back to the controls of the Quinjet. "Glad you understand, Spider-Man. I'll let the other Avengers know what you've told me. As soon as we get back to New York though, I'm ordering you to get some R and R."

"No arguments from me, Cap...thanks again."

Sable was glad to see that Spider-Man had stopped blaming himself for the deaths that had occured. She sometimes wondered how he was able to keep that sense of responsibility from completely overwhelming him but she knew all of that was just another reason amongst the many as to why she respected him as a hero. There was something else that had been on Sable's mind since she and Spider-Man were resting in the private room back aboard the Zenith. Sable had been going over ideas in her head of how to repay him for saving her life yet again. She was very tempted with kissing Spider-Man again as thanks but the suspicion that her kiss would be more based on her complicated feelings for him than simple gratitude told her to hold back on that idea. Instead, she thought of something else altogether though it would entirely be up to Spider-Man on whether or not he agrees.

"Spider-Man, could I speak to you in private?" Sable asked.

Peter turned to face Sable when he heard her speak to him.

"Uh sure, Sable. How about we move back a bit then?" Peter said as he was very curious as to what Sable wanted to ask him. She gave a nod at his suggestion and both walked to the back of the Quinjet where it was relatively quiet and out of the presumable hearing reach of Spider-Woman and Captain America. As soon as they felt that they were secure enough with their surroundings, he began to ask what it was Sable wanted to talk to him about.

"So is something wrong, Sable? Usually people only ask me to speak with them because they need my help with something." There was some truth as to what Peter just mentioned. More times than not did people seek him out in private usually to ask for his aid and those were the few people that actually knew him well enough to not believe what the senile Jameson said about him on a daily basis.

"No, Spider-Man, nothing of that nature this time. I realize that I have yet to thank you for saving my life again and..." Sable began before she saw him wave his hands in a politeful manner.

"Whoa Sable, there's no need for you to thank me. I can't call myself a superhero if I didn't save lives...especially the lives of the people that matter to me the most."

Peter almost slapped himself out of embarassment when he finished the last part of what he just said. It wasn't a lie but he felt that he was making Sable a bit uncomfortable with that and the last thing he wanted to do right now was to make things awkward with the Symkarian mercenary.

However, Sable wasn't feeling uncomfortable in the slightest. Her mind was still taking in what Spider-Man had just said while her heart she noticed was beating a little bit faster after hearing the last part of his sentence.

"He considers me that important in his life?" She mentally pondered before promptly going back to finish what she wanted to say.

"I know I don't have to, Spider-Man but I want to. It wouldn't feel right for me to not show you my gratitude." Sable paused at that, mentally trying to word out the next part.

Peter wondered how exactly Sable planned to thank him when his mind quickly ran back to the recent kiss that he and her had shared before. She told him then that it was his reward for helping her and thought that she planned to do so again this time as a show of thanks. He had admitted to himself many times that he enjoyed her kiss a lot. What puzzled Peter a bit was the fact that he was kind of looking forward to that if it did happen again but he wasn't sure if that interest was a short term thing or the longing of something more.

Sable finally found her words and continued on with what she wanted to say.

"So as a way to show you my appreciation...rather than you having to return all the way to New York, I'd be more than happy to let you stay in Symkaria for some time to not only rest but also to relax. And before you'd say anything, I'll cover the costs towards your needs so you don't have to worry about a lack of funds should you choose to stay."

Sable finished with a small hint of hopefulness in her eyes that Spider-Man would take her offer.

Peter was very surprised to say the least that Sable was willing to go this far to thank him. While he had never stayed in Symkaria long enough to see the sights and the idea of taking a vacation there was very enticing, he felt like he was taking advantage of her in some way though he knew that he wasn't. His sense of responsibility and nature as a gentleman (as his Aunt May raised him to be) almost always had him politely decline whenever a women offered to pay despite the fact that he was almost always broke. Peter was just about to decline her as politely as he could when he caught the look in her eyes. He couldn't exactly place what it was he saw in her eyes but it almost looked as if she was pleading for him to accept her invite. Immediately, Peter felt his heart soften when he saw Sable's beautiful face with a such subtle pleading look and knew then and there that turning down her offer was the last thing he'd ever want to do.

"Sigh...so does this mean that I'm the girl on this vacation, Sable? Because it wouldn't be the first time." He quipped.

Unsure if that joke was meant to be a yes, Sable looked at Spider-Man with an unsure expression on her face. "Spider-Man?"

Peter quickly understood what she was asking and clarified things.

"Sorry, that was just a bad joke...I humbly accept, Sable. It'd be good to get away from New York for a while plus I'll finally be able to take the time to enjoy the sights of Symkaria at my leisure."

Hearing Spider-Man accept her offer of gratitude, Sable felt a small feeling of relief flow through her heart as she smiled at him.

"I'm glad that you did, Spider-Man and don't worry, I'll make sure that you have the time to enjoy yourself during your stay."

Peter simply put his hand on her shoulder as he replied.

"Thanks Sable, but you don't have that to do that much for me. I have a good feeling about staying in Symkaria, maybe because this is the first vacation I've had in well...years."

"Then that just means **I'll have to personally see to it** that you are resting and relaxing to **your utmost ...pleasure**." Sable joked in a rare flirtatious manner and almost laughed when she saw Spider-Man fidget a bit awkwardly in response. She admitted to herself that it did make him look a bit adorable, especially in his costume.

"I uh, should probably let Cap know that I'm going with you to Symkaria." Peter was still flustered from Sable had just said to him and quickly made his way to the front of the Quinjet to tell Captain America the slight change in plans.

Sable let out a tiny laugh as she slowly followed Spider-Man to the front. While it was rare that she took the time to relax and have a bit of fun for herself, Sable had a good feeling that she'd be able to do that more often now at the expense of Spider-Man during his stay in Symkaria for the first time in a long while.

-**I just want to give a heads up that I got two essays for my respective courses that I have to get done and that may take some time for me to finish. So if there isn't an update for a while, I apologize. That doesn't mean I'll forget this though because I hate leaving things unfinished.**

**- Anyways, Some of you may have noticed in this chapter that there is a lot more parts in terms of conversations. I thought the most risky part though was when Sable was messing with Peter in a flirtatious way since I'm trying to maintain her personality of a cool headed professional while having her warm up to Peter bit by bit...not as easy as it sounds. I hope you enjoyed this chapter though and as always reviews are welcome. **


	4. Chapter 4

- **First things first, I want to thank FrivolousThoughts, Dragonskyt, alostt5, JohnTitor, and Masonmalik for again taking the time to review my story. The votes of confidence and advice you guys give me is very helpful and welcoming. FrivolousThoughts's review was a pleasant surprise because I consider him to be one of the best writers when it comes to great fanfics about Peter Parker. Check out his stories when you get the chance.**

-** Some of you may have noticed that the way the chapters are lined up is a little out of order. That's my fault and I'm sorry about that. I was reuploading Chapter one with minor changes to make it more easier to read and as I was about to click the replace chapter button, my laptop froze as I was moving the mouse and I inadvertently clicked the delete chapter button instead. I didn't know I had when it happened and when it said yes or no to make sure I wanted to, I clicked yes. Again I'm sorry about this inconvenience and as soon as I figure out how to reset it back to order, I'll get it fixed. I just don't want to click things at random and turn it into more of a mess than it already is. **

**- Final note before we begin...I mentioned in Chapter two that I'd be busy with 2 term papers I have to get done for my University courses. I have to start working on the serious bits of the paper soon so I just want to let you guys know that it may be a while before another update. Don't worry, as soon as I am able, I'll get back to this ASAP. As I said before, I don't like leaving things unfinished.**

**All that aside though, the next chapter is here and I hope you enjoy it. **

"So you're going to stay in Symkaria for a bit?" Jessica asked with a hint of shock in her voice.

Peter had just informed Captain America and Spider-Woman that he wasn't going to return to New York with them as Silver Sable had invited him to stay in Symkaria to recover as a way of showing her thanks to him in saving her life. While Captain America wasn't expecting to hear this bit of news, he quickly understood and simply told Peter to enjoy his stay there as he has more than earned himself a much needed break. Jessica on the other hand was more than surprised when she heard this. It wasn't the fact that Peter was staying in Symkaria to rest that caught her off guard, it was the fact that Silver Sable had actually invited him to stay there on her insistence. Jessica never really knew Sable all that well, only hearing bits and pieces of news about her every now and then but what she was able to infer for herself based on that info was the general idea of Silver Sable being a cold hearted former professional mercenary who killed if necessary to complete her mission. She knew from her past conversations with Peter that he and Sable had been acquaintances for a long time but to actually hear about her extending her hospitality towards him was a complete opposite of what Jessica had envisioned her character to be.

"Only till I heal back to being 100% again or as close as I can get. More than likely, I'll stay to see the sights for a bit after that. You think you guys could watch over the city for me until I get back?" Peter asked as he knew he wouldn't be home for a while, he wanted to make sure New York was still being protected in his absence.

Jessica just grinned at him as she replied.

"Don't worry, Spidey, we'll make sure to keep things safe and intact as they were when you get back..." She paused for a bit and then teasingly added.

"Just don't get any funny ideas with her, alright? I know Sable's attractive and she's personally invited you to her home country but it's best to keep your urges under check during your stay."

Peter was completely caught off guard by Jessica's teasing comment and awkwardly tried to defend himself.

"What?! I wasn't thinking about that at all. I mean yeah, Sable's beautiful and all but I-" he stopped when he saw Jessica laughing at him hard as she clutched her sides. To him it looked rather painful to watch as she tried with great effort to calm herself down and finally managed to subside it (temporarily from the looks of her face) as she spoke again.

"Relax, Spidey! it was just a joke...I never knew you thought of Sable as beautiful though."

Realizing what he had inadvertently said in his panic, Peter slapped his hand on the part of the mask that covered where his forehead was. He did not deny that he found Sable very attractive as he described her to be moments ago but what he wasn't certain about was whether it was just his natural opinion or something more personal than that. Until Peter was able to settle what he possibly felt for Sable, he didn't want anyone to get the wrong ideas about him and her.

"I do, Jess but I think you're making it out to be more than it really is. It's just my honest opinion."

Jessica was only half convinced by that since her instincts as a woman told her that there was a slight chance that Peter might've held a undiscovered secret attraction for Sable and vice versa based on her unusual warm invitation for him, but both hadn't realized it yet. She understood though if that mutual attraction did exist, they would both figure it out for themselves when the time was right and decided to ease off on the teasing.

"Sorry, Couldn't help it. All jokes aside though, have a good time but be careful."

A bit confused on why Jessica would tell him that, Peter tilted his head questionably.

"What do you mean?"

"I completely agree with Cap when he said that you of all people have earned a much needed break. Just don't let your guard down because anything can happen and in your case, something **probably will **happen." Jessica stated.

Peter knew immediately what she was talking about as soon as she finished. Even though he was taking the time to recover in another country, the likelihood that something bad would happen there was more or less the same odds of someone threatening New York...which happens a lot. He understood from experience that his typical bad luck or Parker luck as he called it would find a way into bringing trouble towards him no matter where he was.

It was then that Sable made her presence known when she cleared her voice, making both Peter and Jessica turn their heads and see that she was standing behind them.

"I understand your concerns, Spider-Woman. In the off chance that something may occur, Spider-Man and I will be sure to remain vigilant." Sable said as she had slowly followed Spider-Man back to the front of the Quinjet just in time to hear Spider-Woman warn him to remain alert during his visit in Symkaria.

She would've gotten there sooner had Sable not heard something else that stopped her in her tracks momentarily. Sable may have misheard things but she had overheard Spider-Woman jokingly tease Spider-Man about keeping his urges in control when he was around her while in Symkaria. What caught her attention though was when Spider-Man in a panicked state tried to defend himself by saying that he'd never attempt such a thing on Sable and further described her as beautiful. When she heard this compliment coming from him, Sable's eyes went wide with surprise and the faint feeling of a slight rising of warmth on her face that soon followed did not escape her notice. Sable knew she was blushing from what Spider-Man had just praised about her and tried with much effort to recompose herself. The fact that her heart was beating more irregular and faster than normal did little to help but Sable thankfully managed to return to her calm demeanor before reaching Spider-Man's side as he had just finished speaking with Spider-Woman.

"Why does my heart and body react at the slightest of Spider-Man's mentioning of me?" Sable wondered as she tried to figure out if it had any links with the complicated feelings she might've held for him.

Peter took note of the quizzical expression Sable had on her face and wondered if something was bothering her. He was about to ask when Captain America's voice rang out to the whole cabin.

"We land in Symkaria in about 5 minutes, Spider-Man. You and Sable better get ready."

"We are already set, Captain America. I have informed Symkarian Air control to expect the Quinjet's landing and had them transmit to you the coordinates of where you can land." Sable said in turn.

Captain America nodded as thanks and set about to land the Quinjet within the coordinates that the Symkarians had sent.

Sable looked outside the windows of the Quinjet and felt a feeling of relief in her heart as soon as she saw that her beloved homeland was unharmed. She took great pride in her home country and the fact that Spider-Man was the main factor in ensuring that Symkaria remained safe was one of the many reasons she invited him to stay for a while. Sable would ensure that her country showed it's saviour their gratitude just as well as she would show Spider-Man her appreciation. She remembers that Spider-Man had been to Symkaria before at her bequest but the majority of the time he spent here was used to help Sable protect important figures of her country from terrorists. This time would be different though, as Spider-Man was coming to stay in Symkaria as her guest to recover as well as relax and she would only seek his help when she needed it. Considering that sense of responsibility of his though, Sable knew she'd have to see to it herself at some point to make sure that Spider-Man was actually resting at all times if possible.

Everyone on board felt the Quinjet gently descend until it landed on solid ground within a open air field and with that, the frontside hatch door opened. Peter and Sable slowly walked towards the door followed closely by Spider-Woman and Captain America. As soon as she had stepped outside, Sable smiled to herself at the thought of finally coming home after what felt like an eternity of being away. She turned to face Spider-Man who was looking around the general area and with a small grin placed her hand on his shoulder as she spoke.

"Welcome back to Symkaria, Spider-Man."

Peter felt Sable's gentle touch on his shoulder and turned his head to look at her.

"Thanks Sable. The scenery still looks great since the last time I was here... but then again we were in an emergency, so I wasn't able to sight see much." he replied as Peter recalled the fact that while he was very busy defending important people of Symkaria during then, he did remember being able to view small bits of the natural sights around here. At the time though, he didn't have much of a chance to enjoy the scenery and quickly made a note in his head to do just that at his leisure the minute he felt well rested.

"I never forgot the first time you came here to help me, Spider-Man and I assure you that your visit this time will be peaceful and undisturbed." Sable said as her eyes caught sight of the rather expensive looking car that one of her maids sent for them was heading towards their way to take them into the quaint city.

"We should get back to New York then. Our thanks again for helping us, Ms Sablinova. Spider-Man, take your time to recover. We'll keep a closer eye on the city in your absence." Captain America spoke and he quickly saluted them both before heading back into the Quinjet.

"Enjoy your time here, Spidey. Just don't forget to come home, all right?" Spider-Woman said in good nature as she hugged Spider-Man and nodded in respect to Sable before she returned to the Quinjet. Peter watched as the Quinjet slowly rose to the air and quickly taking off to the skies again. Sable saw the embrace that Spider-Woman had given Spider-Man just moments ago and couldn't help but feel a small bit of envy at the close friendship that they appeared to have shared. While the reason was still uknown to her, she somehow had no troubles in admitting that she would not mind sharing a similar close relationship with Spider-Man as well.

Sable put her thoughts on hold when she saw the car stop in front of them. Peter opened the door to the backseats and let Sable enter the vehicle first before doing so himself. As soon as the door closed, the driver drove her way onto the main road where it led to the city itself. Peter was looking out the window while Sable was typing away on a laptop that had already been in the car beforehand. He watched patches of scenery pass by as they drove for some time when he suddenly realized the fact that other than his Anti-Six suit he was already wearing, Peter had no other pieces of clothing on him. The feeling of embarassment made its presence known inside his head as he decided to let Sable know of the minor inconvenience he had on his hands.

"Uh Sable? Sorry to bother you but there's something I forgot about that I might need help with."

Sable had just finished typing up her report regarding what happened in the previous battle and sent it towards the prime minister when she heard Spider-Man asking for her help.

"It's alright, Spider-Man. I just finished writing a report anyways. What can I do for you?" She inquired.

Peter laughed sheepishly before he answered.

"Well other than the costume I have on right now, I don't have anything else to wear. As much as I love wearing my costume, I really don't want to have to wear this everyday that I'm here."

Sable blinked once after hearing Spider-Man's inconvenient predicament and the next thing she knew, she was struggling to stifle her laughter that threatened to break out. Whatever reaction Peter was expecting from her, this certainly was not one of them as he looked at Sable with a slightly awed expression on his face despite the mask.

She managed to compose herself albeit with much difficulty from what Peter could see as she started to speak again.

"M-My apologies, Spider-Man, I did not mean to laugh. It's just that out of all the things I've been asked to help with, your request is the first of its sort and that is something I'd never expected you to consider a serious enough problem to ask me for assistance with."

Listening to her words, Peter realized that Sable did have a point. Considering all the missions that dealt with killing terrorists and sometimes criminals for the law that she had completed for the many sizeable cash bounties she collected, the fact that he was asking for her help with something so...normal was a bit humourous on his part now that he thought about it.

"Not to worry, Spider-Man. The funds that I'll provide you with should be more than enough for you to make the necessary purchases you may need during your visit here."

Rubbing the back of his head, Peter sighed a little to himself as he spoke.

"Heh...thank you Sable and you don't need to apologize for laughing. Seriously, you should've seen some of the weird things I had to worry about in the past; you would've really laughed then."

"I look forward to knowing about it when you share those stories, Spider-Man." Sable said with a smile.

She noticed that she had been smiling a lot more since being in the company of Spider-Man and interacting with him but as with the admittance of wanting to be closer with him in terms of trust she thought of earlier, Sable felt that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing that she was doing so. She just considered it unusual that she was able to be more willing to express herself in Spider-Man's presence.

"_Ms Sablinova..."_ Her driver called out in Symkarian.

Sable quickly turned her attention to the front of the vehicle.

"_Yes?"_

_"We will be arriving at your home shortly, madam." _she informed.

Sable nodded in understanding and faced Spider-Man again to let him know where they were headed.

"We will be reaching our destination shortly. I hope it will be to your liking."

Peter did not yet know as to where he was going to stay during his time here.

"So this destination is where I will be staying, right? Where exactly is this place?" he asked.

Without any hesitation on her part, Sable quickly replied. "My home, Spider-Man. You will stay as my guest of honour."

Upon hearing this from her, Peter's eyes widened a bit behind his mask. He knew that Sable was simply showing her thanks for his actions in saving her life but the way she's demonstrated her gratitude thus far was more than he expected. As far as Peter was concerned, a simple thank you was mostly what he got from the numerous people he had rescued and he was always more than satisfied with just that alone.

"Are you sure about that, Sable? I'm more than happy with everything you're already doing for me and I wouldn't want to burden you with more to deal with if I stay at your home."

"It is no trouble at all, Spider-Man. This is the least I can do for you for everything you've done not only for me but also for Symkaria. You are my guest and I won't take no for an answer." Sable answered adamantly as she unknowingly put her hand on top of his.

Peter knew she was serious with the last part of her statement and did not say anything more on it. However, his sense of responsibility kept telling him that there was no way he could just sit there and relax while she was busy taking care of him.

"Alright...but one of the things I hate is being a freeloader, Sable. So I'm going to do my part to help out however I can as well. I'd like to think that I'm earning my keep somehow. If you need anything from me, just ask." Peter stated with absolute confidence.

Sable on her part felt a bit reluctant to involve Spider-Man in possible problems where she may need his help to deal with since he was here to rest and recover. She did see the merit in his words though and could not help but feel even more impressed with his character.

"Of course, Spider-Man and thank you."

It was only then that Sable and Peter noticed that their hands were still touching each other's. Both individuals looked into the other's eyes briefly before they slowly parted their hands and turned politely away from each other. Peter felt a slight part of disappointment for reasons unbeknowst to him that her hand was no longer on his, unaware that Sable had felt that same bit of disappointment as he did for the same fact that his hand was no longer within hers.

The driver made herself known again after a few minutes of silence.

"_We have arrived, Ms Sablinova. Welcome Home."_

Peter's eyes caught the sight of Sable's home and was captivated by it as the car pulled up in where it appeared to be located in the outskirts of the city. It was understandably a mansion given her amount of wealth and roughly about the same size as the Avenger's mansion. What really brought his attention to bear though was both the simplicistic design of her home and also the view of the mountain ranges that seemed to form the background behind it. He had been to Symkaria before but this was the first time he'd seen where Sable lived her own life in rare moments of peace and quiet.

While she was very glad in her heart to finally be home, Sable's mind was on a different train of thought. She knew that both herself and Spider-Man had to rest after their recent battles but the first thing Sable wanted to do was to check for any major injuries that Spider-Man and herself may have sustained on their respective beings in the specialized medical bay she had made in her home. This meant that Sable'd have to ask Spider-Man to do something that would require him to put his ultimate faith in her. She admitted to herself that she had long been curious about this since the day she first met him, but this check up was more important for his well being than just satisfying her own curiosity. Sable sincerely hoped that she had earned enough of Spider-Man's trust for him to agree to her request.

-** I'll admit that this chapter took some time to write but mostly it's because of the fact that I've got a lot of priorities in terms of education on my mind that I'm dealing with right now. Nevertheless I did enjoy the challenge of writing this even in the midst of all that. I'm still debating on whether or not to write a lemon for this later. Not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't really know how to write something like that. On a side note, the dialogue written in italics means that they're speaking in Symkarian in case anyone gets confused.**

**- That aside though, I hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter as well and please keep the reviews coming since they are vital for improvements that I may be able to make.**


	5. Chapter 5

**- Again I want to start off with thanking the following people who took the time to review: Highlander348, FrivolousThoughts, johnny, Kyuubiman, and The New Creed. The compliments and words of advice you guys give is very welcoming, especially Kyuubiman's advice. Your tips on writing key romantic moments and how to represent them was very helpful. **

**- On a separate note, the entire time I was finishing up my term papers for my courses, I found myself wanting to get back to this as soon as I was able. I'm glad to say that I finished what needed to be done but the downside is that I only got this Easter Weekend as a reprieve before I have to focus solely on studying for my finals coming up in two weeks. So for that I apologize ahead of time. I'll do what I can to update this as soon as possible when the exams are over.**

**But more on that later. For now, let us begin the next chapter. Enjoy!**

However amazed Peter was at the sight of the outside of Sable's mansion, it paled in comparison to how humbled he felt when he saw the inside of her home. It was a given that it would be very spacious in terms of the size of the place but what set Sable's abode different from the various mansions Peter had visited before was again the simplicity of the interior design. The many mansions that he had seen before always had a rather large trace of extravagant pieces of art and luxuries within that seemed to do nothing but serve the purpose of showing off how rich the owners were. Even the Avengers mansion had small bits and pieces of luxuries but seeing that it was Ironman who built the place to begin with, it wasn't all that surprising. Peter personally had no real problems with that and by now had come to expect that out of the many billionares he's met but he always did feel more than a little out of place whenever he had to stay.

After all, even with the decent paying job he now held at Horizon Labs, Peter knew that it would still take him possibly two lifetimes to be able to make that much money.

Sable's home though was very different for other than a few inexpensive looking paintings that decorated the halls and the occasional potted plants at some corners of the walls, there was little to none of the usual glittering pieces of art or trinkets Peter had come to expect of a house this size. To his relieved surprise, he felt a rare sense of comfort here. He felt even more at home here than the Avengers Mansion itself and that, Peter knew, was saying something.

"I hope my home is to your liking, Spider-Man."

The sound of Sable's voice from behind him broke Peter out of his mental observations and he turned to face her before answering.

"Heh...your place is a heck of a lot better sight than mine is, Sable. Maybe it's how you decorated the place but I really feel like I'm at home here even though this is my first time seeing this."

Sable smiled in relief of the fact that Spider-Man was able to take comfort in how she had designed the interior of her home. Despite the vast amount of money she had in her possession, Sable never wasted any of it on pointless things such as extravagant pieces of jewellery or art pieces that served little to no purposes. The only time Sable made any purchases at all was to either keep up with her stock of the latest weapons for her mercenary work or for the basic necessities. Unlike many people in the business world who have others making their money for them, Sable herself literally fought hard for her monetary funds and the result of that hard work ethic had also instilled in her a sense of humbleness and responsibility.

The feeling of fatigue discreetly made it's presence known again within Sable's being and in turn brought her mind back to the important request she would have to ask of Spider-Man. While part of the reason as to why she would have to ask of this ultimate act of trust from him was in small part due to her curiosity, the main reason was that Sable was very concerned for any internal injuries that Spider-Man may have sustained in battle. Sable wanted to do a complete check up on him and that included any possible injuries done to his head. Again, she found herself strongly hoping that she had gained enough of his trust.

"Spider-Man, there's something I want to take care of before we do anything else." Sable informed as she began to lead the way to the medical wing she had prepared long before in case of emergencies.

Peter wondered what Sable wanted to do as he began to follow her but he figured that she would tell him when they got to the place she was leading him to so he remained silent about it. He looked around the area as they walked down a hall after turning once and Peter realized that despite the large size of her mansion, there was hardly anyone else here. He had seen some maids at the entrance cleaning away at the windows but other than them, it seemed that Peter and Sable were the only other people here.

"Uh Sable? how many people are here exactly?" he asked.

Sable looked up to him curiously for a brief moment as they walked side by side before she turned her gaze forward again and replied.

"There are about ten maids and two cooks who work for me here but other than them, it is just you and me who are currently residing here right now."

Behind his mask, Peter's eyes widened a bit in surprise at what Sable had said. Her words just now basically meant that Peter and Sable were in her house...alone together. He felt his face blush a little bit at the implications of that but he quickly turned his mind away from that train of thought. While there was no doubt that her maids would make their presence known to a small degree, Peter knew they were only there to do their jobs and would not interact with them very often.

"Although it is interesting," Sable continued.

Peter looked at her and noticed the slight gleam of mischief in her eyes as she paused momentarily.

"Uh...What is interesting?"

"You are the only male in my house right now, Spider-Man...I hope that knowledge will not affect your behavior." Sable finished with a small smirk on her face.

Peter knew immediately that she was joking with him but the fact that Sable was still implying he would act in such a way in a house full of the opposite sex made his face heat up a bit more underneath his mask.

Sable chuckled a little bit at the lack of a response coming from Spider-Man and felt a slight sense of pride of the fact that she was able to temporarily silence the normally talkative webslinger himself. Given the implications of her joke though, Sable understood why he would have a hard time responding. Her brief moment of fun was halted in her mind when Sable's eyes caught sight of the door to her medical wing and as soon as she opened the door to let Spider-Man in, she felt a twinge of nervousness tug at her heart for she was about to ask him to do something that would require him to put his utmost faith in her.

As soon as Peter stepped into the room that Sable had led him to, he knew right away from the looks of the medical machines and supplies that she wanted to check herself and him for any possible injuries they may have taken in the previous battle. Peter had no trouble with that but when he turned to look at Sable again, her fair face was showing an expression of seriousness and unless he was mistaken, a slight hint of worry as well.

"Is there something wrong, Sable?" He asked with small bits of concern behind his voice.

She heard Spider-Man call out to her and knew that she could not hold off any longer from asking him what she had to. Sable's concern for his wellbeing overrode any hesitancy on her part and with a deep breath finally found her voice.

"Please forgive me for what I'm about to ask from you, Spider-Man but know that it is of the greatest importance to me."

Peter was taken aback by what she just said and felt a bit more concerned for her but he nodded gently as a sign for her to continue.

"As you may have guessed, the reason I brought you here was so that I could be sure no serious injuries were inflicted on your body. My mind will not be at ease however if there was a chance that I might possibly miss certain damage done to you because I was only able to check part of your being."

At once, Peter began to get an insight as to what Sable wanted to ask of him but decided to let her finish just to be certain.

"I can only hope you understand that what I'm about to ask is very important not only for me but for you as well...If I am to help you recover and mend your body, I must see the man behind the mask and I swear to you that I will never reveal who you are to anyone." she paused for a short moment before speaking again, this time Peter noticed, with a softer tone.

"If I were to know who you really are, I'd be able to help you more often because you are someone I never want to lose." She stated.

Sable was a bit surprised at herself of the fact that she had just admitted from her heart the amount of concern she held for Spider-Man but knew there was nothing more she could do but wait for his response. A large part of her was very worried about the possibility of him being unable to place his faith in her and Sable did her best to make sure that worry was not expressed although it was proving to be very difficult.

Peter was unable to form any words to respond but his mind was working overtime in considering whether or not to do what Sable had just asked of him. It was understandable that he was hesitant about revealing who he was considering his line of work as Spider-Man. The only people Peter's revealed his identity to so far was the Avengers and the Fantastic Four due to them having earned enough of his trust. His good friend, MJ, knew as well but given the past they once shared, it wasn't hard to see why. While Peter thought of Sable as a close friend and ally, he was not certain about letting her in on one of his most important secrets. It wasn't the fact that he did not trust her, but what bothered him was the chance (however unlikely it would be) that one of his many enemies could possibly find out the fact that Sable knew who Spider-Man was and if Peter knew anything from his experience with MJ, her life would be in constant danger.

While he understood to never underestimate the fighting skills of the beautiful Symkarian mercenary, he knew just as well that there was only so much a normal human could do.

Despite this, Peter found it just as hard to see why he couldn't reveal who he was to Sable. More than once had she saved his life and even though the entire world was literally against him in the previous battle, she willingly stayed by his side. He knew she was good with secrets, given her professional nature. Sable had already gained Peter's respect from the many times they've worked together and with that respect, he found himself being able to place his faith in her a little bit more each time. He felt a bit guilty at the fact that Sable was willing to trust him so much to the point of inviting him to her private home but he had yet to demonstrate any sign of the immense faith he had in her. Perhaps now, Peter decided, was the time to show Silver Sable just how much he really trusted her.

A few minutes had passed since Sable told Spider-Man of her request and she had been waiting patiently for his response. Sable knew that he had been thinking it over in his mind since revealing his secret identity was something he did not do so easily on a whim. However, the anxiety and worry of whether or not he agreed was almost overwhelming and Sable felt that she needed to know now.

"Spider..." she began but found herself unable to speak further as she was completely caught off guard by what happened next...

Spider-Man took off the helmet like mask on his head and set it down quickly to remove the partial mask underneath. He raised his right hand and with one swift pull, yanked away the secondary mask from his head and in doing so, finally revealed the face beneath that she had long been curious about. Silver Sable's eyes was now taking in the sight of a handsome young man who shared the same fair skin tone as she did. His slight messy brown hair along with the deep chocolate orbs of his eyes only added to his attractive allure and it wasn't until Sable saw the man squirm a bit that she realized she had been staring him intently for some time and her cheeks blushed a deep red as a result.

Peter fidgeted a little when he saw Sable staring with a strong gaze at his now visible face. He hadn't really grown used to unmasking himself even in front of the people he trusted yet but he shook off the small feeling of discomfort and held out his hand as he spoke.

"My name is Peter Parker...it is a pleasure to meet you again, Silver Sablinova." he greeted with a smile on his face.

Sable quickly readjusted her thoughts and took his hand with her own.

"The pleasure is mine, Mr. Parker and thank you...for trusting me." She replied with a warm smile of her own, the source of which came from her relief and a bit of happiness that Peter was able to place his trust in her with his secret identity.

Peter just grinned as he spoke again.

"Please Sable, just call me Peter. As far as I'm concerned, you earned my trust a long time ago...sorry if I took too long to show you that."

"There is no need to apologize, Peter, I understand your reluctance given your line of work. Of course, knowing who you are now makes it easier for me to ask you to do something else." Sable said with a bit of humour behind her voice.

"What is it?"

"You're going to have to take off the rest of your costume if I am to properly assess the condition of your body."

Peter could've sworn at that moment his head resembled a tomato after hearing what Sable just instructed him to do due to his face blushing even more than it had beneath his mask. He could tell that Sable was almost about to burst into uncontrollable laughter after seeing his reaction judging from the visible struggle she was showing on her face. With a mental sigh in his head, Peter began the slow process of taking off the Anti-Six armour variant of his Spider-Man costume.

"D-Do you need any help with that, Peter?" she managed to mutter out albeit with some difficulty. Sable was still trying to maintain control of her laughter but it was proving to be quite the uphill battle. The flushed reaction Peter had just displayed on his handsome face was one of the most funniest things she had witnessed in a very long time.

He shook his head with a sheepish grin as he removed the shoulder pauldrons and pressed the latches beneath his arms, freeing the chest and back piece from his body. He then pressed the latches at the armoured portions of his knees and the greaves along with the upper leg portions soon fell off. The feeling of a breeze flowing gently against his skin made Peter realize that he didn't have a shirt on underneath and his upper body was completely exposed. His lower body was covered in black sweat pants. A faint but sharp sense of pain brought his senses to full alert and he instinctively looked to the right of his lower abdomen.

It was there that he noticed a large open cut wound had been sustained. From what Peter could tell, the cut wasn't too deep but the amount of the blood he might've lost was a little concerning considering the huge amount of time he had ignored the wound for the sake of saving the world in the previous battle.

Peter was unaware that the moment his upper body was free and naked from his costume, Sable's eyes had immediately locked on to him and she had not looked away once. She was marveling at the sight of Peter's muscular physique that seemed to be a rare but perfect blend of a trained gymnast and body builder. He wasn't too slim but at the same time he was not too overly muscled. The faint scars that littered his body seemed to give a small tale of the many difficult past battles Peter had fought in his career as Spider-Man but Sable found that she did not mind them as the scars only added to his increasing attractiveness. She tried with much effort to prevent her mind from thinking of being alone with Peter in a more...intimate setting but to no avail as her thoughts began to picture some of those situations.

Luckily Sable caught sight of the bloodied wound on his lower right abdomen which immediately set aside those thoughts and replaced them with feelings of concern and plans to help him.

"Take a seat over there, Peter." she pointed one hand towards a lightly cushioned bench at the side while her other hand grabbed hold of a first aid kit.

Knowing that it was best to follow her instructions, he made his way to the bench and sat himself down. Sable quickly followed and sat by his side with the first aid kit in hand.

"Raise your right arm up."

Peter again quickly did as he was told and raised his arm to allow Sable a better look at the large cut on his side. She moved her head forward a bit to check the wound and moved her right hand to gently touch around the cut. After a few seconds, a small feeling of relief soon flowed through her as she was able to quickly assess that the cut wasn't too serious but to avoid the risk of infection, Sable knew she'd have to clean the wound. Her hands went back to the first aid kit and aftter fumbling a bit, she finally found the bottle of iodine and a swab of cotton.

"This might sting a little bit, Peter." She warned.

He simply nodded in response and Sable returned the gesture before she dipped the swab of cotton into the bottle of iodine and began to gently clean the bloodied cut. The moment the iodine soaked cotton made contact with his wound, Peter winced a little from the slightly painful sting that followed.

As she continued with the cleansing of his injury, Peter took another look at Sable and found himself thinking about how beautiful her face was despite the look of fatigue that was faintly expressed. Her slight messy silver hair and the small beads of sweat that flowed down her fair skin actually added to her beauty in his eyes but the moment he looked at her lips, Peter immediately thought back to the kiss he had shared with her. He didn't know why but he suddenly felt a small but intense urge to have the feeling of her lips pressed against his again. As soon as he had realized though, Peter just as quickly fought down those those thoughts but with more difficulty than he believed it would take.

"Whoa Parker, hold yourself back a little bit. Yeah, you see Sable as a very gorgeous lady and you are technically alone with her but that doesn't mean that she finds you attractive on the same lines. After all, when it comes to being good looking, you don't come close to being even the fourth best." Peter mentally said to himself.

Unbeknowst to him, Sable was similarily having a hard time in keeping her mind from thinking about Peter's handsome face and attractive body. Of course, being right next to him with his upper body completely exposed was making that almost impossible. Her left hand was holding on to his upper right arm so she could balance herself while cleaning his wound with her right but the second her hand made contact with his arm, Sable couldn't help but think her hand was gripping onto steel. It was obvious to her that the rest of the muscles on Peter's body was rock hard as well and the revelations of that made it even harder to suppress the vivid blush that was slowly showing on her face.

Even worse was the fact that her mind every few seconds would go back to the thoughts of being alone with Peter in a more intimate setting and Sable found it to be increasingly difficult to recompose herself.

"Control yourself, Sablinova, you are not a hormonally driven schoolgirl! While I'll concede the fact that I do find Peter to be very handsome, there is nothing to suggest that he sees me in a similar light." Sable mentally told herself although she felt that she wasn't completely convinced.

She made a final wipe towards Peter's wound and sat herself upright to put away the iodine in the first aid kit. Sable then pulled out a roll of bandages and after unwrapping a reasonable patch, ripped it from the roll with her teeth. She moved her arms back down to place the white bandage around the cleaned cut and with a last pat to his abdomen sat up again to face Peter.

"Your cut thankfully isn't too serious, try not to pressure your right side too much for a few days and it will quickly heal." Sable informed.

Peter stood up and looked down at the bandaged area before speaking.

"Thanks for helping me treat it, Sable...Is there anything else you want to check for?"

She simply nodded and pointed towards a medical device that from what Peter could tell looked like a highly advanced hospital bed.

"While the wounds on the surface don't appear to be very severe, I am still concerned about the possible damage done to you internally. That machine will simply scan for any injuries on the inside that could be missed."

Peter walked towards the device and looked around it.

"So...what do I do?" he asked.

"Just lie down on it and don't move, the scanner will check for any damage you may have taken on the inside. It shouldn't take too long." Sable said as she pressed a few buttons on the panel in front to start it.

Peter again did as he was told and laid himself down on the bed. He made his mind and body relax with deep breaths as the scanner part of the machine started to move.

The scanner itself began moving up and down with a luminescent blue light shining down on his body. It repeated this process for about ten minutes until the scanner stopped moving and Sable read the results on the side monitor.

"How am I doing?"

She looked back at him with a warm smile as she replied.

"I am glad to say that you are fine for the most part, Peter. Aside from a mild bruise in the back of your head and moderate muscle fatigue but that is something a few days of reasonable bedrest can take care of."

Peter swung himself out of the bed and stretched his arms a little before he turned back to her.

"Good to hear...Thanks again for your help, Sable."

Sable held her smile as a response before she moved to the bed and laid herself down.

"Peter, could you perform the same check up for me?" she asked.

"No problem." he stated before walking to the panel and pressed the buttons needed to start the scanner. Peter had used similar medical machines whenever he was treating someone at the Avengers Tower and he was already familar with the controls.

The scanner started up again and began moving up and down with the same blue light shining down on Sable. The only difference this time was that the scanner's results for her showed up a little quicker than Peter's by about two minutes. Sable sat herself upright while he looked at the results on the side monitor.

"What is my assessment?" she asked.

Peter's face, Sable noticed, had a discreet look of concern on his face as he spoke.

"You're doing fine as well aside from the same muscle fatigue that I'm going through. It did pick up a small cut wound on your upper back though."

She moved her hands towards the upper half of her spine and was able to feel that the jacket of her battle outfit had a minor slash that went down towards her skin. Sable squinted her eyes a little from the small but sharp stab of pain that followed from the contact her hand made with the cut.

"I'll treat the cut for you, Sable. It is the least I can do so far." Peter stated as he grabbed the first aid kit.

Sable looked back at him with slightly widened eyes before responding.

"Are you sure? It is nothing more than a small graze."

Peter smiled and shook his head lightly as he replied.

"I want to do this, Sable. Like I said, it's the least I can do for you and it's better to deal with it now as a small graze than tend to it later as something more serious."

She saw the logic in his words and nodded before she unclipped the sides of her jacket and quickly took it off. Underneath, Sable wore a tight black tank top and she put the jacket aside as she turned around and moved her hair aside so as to allow Peter to treat the wound better on her back.

He had already dipped a new swab of cotton in the iodine and turned his head to deal with the cut on Sable's back. Immediately however, Peter blushed a little at the sight of Sable's well toned body that was covered in only a tight tank top. He slowly began the process of cleaning the cut with the iodine soaked cotton albeit still trying to retain his composure though it was proving to be increasingly difficult. As Peter did when she had cleaned his wound, Sable grimaced a little bit as well when the swab of cotton brushed against her cut.

She looked back for a brief moment and saw the look of concern in Peter's eyes as he was helping her. Her heart warmed a little at the sight of that and slowly turned her head forward again with a warm and large smile on her face.

On his part, Peter was still having a hard time in focusing on the task at hand what with the sight of Sable's attractive body in front of him. The fair white skin and the seemingly perfect curves that she possessed was very evident even when viewed from the back, especially since Sable had nothing on her but a tight black tank top. As Peter switched hands to better hold the cotton, he noticed that the wound was close to the part of the tank top that had been partially cut at the back. No doubt that was where the injury had been inflicted but when he noted that there was a lack of a strap on her back, Peter inadvertently realized that Sable was not wearing a bra underneath. He immediately felt the control he had in keeping his face from blushing madly wane significantly as he began to have thoughts of her rather impressive chest. Peter was thankful that Sable's back was turned to him as he shook his head lightly to stop his mind from thinking in such a way.

Though it was only for a few minutes, Peter felt like it took an eternity as he finished cleaning Sable's cut and put away the iodine bottle. He pulled and ripped a decent patch of bandages from a roll and gently placed it on her wound.

"All done, Sable." he said with a hint of relief in his voice.

She stood up and stretched her arms and lower back a little as she replied.

"Thank you for your help, Peter."

"Don't mention it. Like I said before, it is the least I can do." He stated with a grin.

Sable tossed an extra clean white cotton shirt from a drawer to Peter as she grabbed her jacket. He caught the shirt and slipped it on quickly as he placed the first aid kit away. Both made their way to the door and promptly exited the medical wing. The first thing that caught their attention when they stepped out was the sight of stars in the now night sky outside the windows. Sable wondered how the day had turned into night so quickly but remembered the fact that they had gotten to Symkaria very late in the afternoon. Peter looked at the overhead clock on the side and noted that both he and Sable had been tending to each other's injuries for about an hour.

It was when she visibly lost her balance for a short bit that he realized just how tired she was from the lack of sleep. Peter wasn't doing that much better as he found himself struggling to stay awake and stifling yawns. Sable noted the same look of exhaustion she had on Peter's face and with a small yawn, spoke up again.

"I think it is time we both turned in for the night. Despite missing dinner, I don't feel very hungry. If you'd like, Peter, I can have my cooks make something for you."

Peter looked at her with a tired but amused look on his face.

"Nah it's okay, Sable. I'm way too tired to feel hungry right now. I just want to have a shower and then go to bed."

Sable nodded as she shared the same sentiment and took Peter's hand to lead him to his room. He followed quickly as he felt himself struggling even more now to remain awake. After a brief trip up the stairs, they walked down the hall a little until they reached the door of his room. She looked back to Peter albeit with a more tired expression on her face.

"This is where you'll stay during your time here. I hope it is comfortable enough..." Sable's words trailed off as she leaned her head against the door.

Peter instinctively felt worried that something was wrong until he took a second look at her face and realized that she had fallen fast asleep. While it was a bit unusual to sleep while standing, it was completely understandable to Peter as Sable had not been sleeping much if at all since the start of the previous battle and the built up fatigue had finally set in completely. It was still impressive to him that she had been able to fight by his side for as long as she had. Peter knew that he could not leave Sable here to stand and sleep in the halls all night long but he did not know where her own bedroom was and seeing as it was very late, he could not ask any of the servants for directions as to where that was. There was also the good chance that they did not speak english so that idea had double faults anyways.

Quietly sighing to himself, Peter picked up Sable into his arms and opened the door to his room. He would let her sleep on the bed for a few hours until she woke up again and made her way back to her room while he slept on the couch at the side. He did not turn on the lights but the bright moonlight that shone through windows lighted up the room enough while still managing to keep it relatively dark. Peter made his way to the queen size bed and slowly laid down the still sleeping Sable on it. As he tried to move away however, he found that she was holding onto his shirt tightly. Peter gently tried to loosen her grip on his shirt but it was in vain as she did not let go at all.

He sighed quietly to himself again as he assessed his current situation. He felt that she should be the one sleeping on the bed while he rested on the couch but Peter didn't have the heart to wake Sable up from the peaceful rest she deserved.

"I'll just close my eyes for a bit until her hands let go, it shouldn't take too long." Peter decided. He was simply too tired to think straight and hard about this.

He laid his head down beside hers and closed his eyes as he waited. Five minutes had passed but Sable's hands remained tight around Peter. Five minutes soon led to ten, then twenty until his own feelings of fatigue finally caught up to him and he too was soon fast asleep. Sable and Peter were now sleeping next to each other peacefully as they both once again took comfort in the other's arms for the night.

**- This chapter was a little bit longer than I normally write but I figured I owed it to you guys. I admit when I worked on this, I was a little burned out since I started the day after I had just turned in my last essay and that's why it took a little bit longer to get rolling.**

**- Again I apologize ahead of time for the more than likely lack of updates again for the next two weeks but I have to study for these finals and that's gonna take all of my focus.** **I'll do my best to get back to this quickly though.** **As always, reviews are encouraged since every writer needs them to improve. Until next time, guys.**


	6. Chapter 6

- **As always, I want to thank the people who took the time to review: Kyubbiman, kindleflame5, and NeoTyson. The kind words and friendly advice is always welcome, specifically kindleflame5 who brought up a good point. I'm gonna have to decide on who makes the first move when Peter and Sable finally realize what they truly feel for each other. **

- **I got lucky when I began to work on this chapter. I found that my study sessions always ended up relatively well as I was able to retain most of what I had to know for my finals and so found myself with some extra time. Of course, I want to remind everyone that I still have put the majority of my focus into my studying and so I might not be able to update as often for from what I can tell the next two weeks. **

**We'll save that for later though. For now, let us begin the next chapter and I hope you enjoy... **

As the sun slowly rose to mark the morning, Sable began to stir and wake up. She slowly opened her eyes and looked down to find herself on a bed, the feeling of which made her remember that she had fallen asleep in the hall during the midst of showing Peter his room. Sable did not mean to fall asleep but the level of exhaustion and fatigue that was felt in her being overrode any resistance she had in staying awake. Someone, she figured, must've found her leaning against the door in the hall and brought her to the bed so she could sleep comfortably.

The feeling of something lightly rising up and down on her arms brought Sable to turn her attention to the right. To her surprise, she saw Peter lying in the same bed next to her, still sleeping soundly away as her own arms was resting on his waist which gently pushed up whenever he breathed. Her mind slowly began to piece together the correct conclusion that it was Peter who carried Sable from her initial sleeping point and brought her to the bed in the guestroom set for him.

While her natural first reaction would've been to quietly and quickly make her way back to her own bedroom, Sable felt very reluctant to leave Peter's side. She found it rather comforting to have him sleeping by her, his muscled frame that was barely covered by the cotton shirt she had given him felt very warm and cozy. The fact that one of his arms was resting on top of her waist and gently holding on and one of her own legs was tangled under one of his also made it literally that much harder to leave as she didn't want to risk waking him up.

Her pillow, she realized, had been his chest as Sable laid her head back down and decided to wait until Peter woke up on his own.

As she waited patiently, Sable once again was looking at Peter's handsome face; a face that before yesterday had long been a primary focus of her curiosity. Had she known that she already earned his trust long before, Sable was confident that she would've likely asked him to show who he was under the mask earlier. She was still unable to get over the fact that she finally knew who he was and the face that was revealed is certainly something she'd never complain about. Sable did not expect Peter to be so good looking beneath the mask she normally would've recognized him by. While she never believed him to be unattractive, she more or less expected his face to appear a bit more childlike given his penchant for jokes and quips in battle. In contrast (to her surprised delight), Peter's face was of a mature young man with very charming features. Maybe not to the level of a male model as other women might've wanted but in Sable's point of view, Peter looked almost perfect. His light brown hair and his smiles was something, she believed, that only added to his attractive allure but what really caught her attention when she first laid sight on his face was his hazel eyes.

Given his normal lighthearted nature, many assumed that his life was rather easy and free of worry but upon a careful look into his chocolate orbs, Sable could tell that his life had been anything but easy. The many signs of guilt, stress, and loss was discreetly but vividly expressed in Peter's eyes, something that she felt sympathy for almost immediately.

Sable wondered just how hard Peter's life really was as she continued to watch him sleeping away. The peaceful expression on his face right now almost made it look like he had nothing to worry about but she knew better. She could hear Peter's heart beating as her head was still on his chest and the soft sounds of his relaxed breathing was also heard. Sable noted that she had not taken her eyes off of his face and it wasn't until she realized the fact that she noticed a strand of his brown hair had fallen loosely to the middle of his forehead.

On instinct, her hand rose to move the hair out of the way and as she began to place her hand back to her side, she caught sight of his lips and once again thought back to the kiss that she and Peter shared once before. Her desire to kiss him again that had been temporarily stored away came back with a strong passion.

The fact that his handsome face was in front of hers made it very hard for Sable to stop herself from indulging to what her heart told her to do. Before she knew it, her right hand slowly rose to caress his left cheek. He twitched briefly at the sudden contact but remained asleep as Sable began to gradually press her face closer to Peter's. Her lips inched closer and closer to his until they were on the verge of touching. She closed her eyes as she was about to press her lips to Peter's.

But the realization of what she was about to do came too quick and Sable swiftly opened her eyes and carefully moved her hand away while backing up her face a little.

"What am I thinking?! Hold yourself together, Sablinova, you can't take advantage of Peter just because he's asleep!" she scolded herself. Her face was visibly flustered and her heart was beating so fast that Sable felt as though she just had a heart attack.

She couldn't believe that she just tried to kiss Peter while he was sleeping. It wasn't that she wanted to kiss him that bothered her, Sable felt unusually ok with that but the fact that she attempted to do so when he was in a compromised position made her feel ashamed of herself. She was thankful that he was still asleep as Sable wouldn't have known how to explain things.

The brief but strong desire to kiss Peter again turned her mind back to the long asked question of whether or not she saw him in a more serious and romantic way. Sable had no problems with admitting that she found him to be very attractive but she still wasn't sure if that was just her honest opinion as a woman or the uncertain feelings from deep within her heart that she may have held for him.

What she did know was that at some point during his stay with her in Symkaria, Sable had a strong gut feeling that she would have to confront Peter about it and see whether he felt the same way towards her. If the feeling was mutual, then maybe...

With her mind preoccupied with complicated thoughts, she did not notice the very man she was thinking of moving about lightly and slowly beginning to stir as well. Though barely awake, Peter was still able to recall the fact that he inadvertently fell asleep while waiting for Sable to let go of his shirt last night. He had only meant to close his eyes for a little bit but the level of exhaustion that had built up in his body finally caught up to him. Despite the way it happened, Peter felt very well rested; a feeling that was rare what with his life as Spider-Man. He wasn't sure why that was but he knew better than to complain.

Peter warily opened his eyes and the first thing that greeted his sight was Sable herself lying down next to him. This took him completely off guard but it also gave a small indication as to why his sleep had felt so warm and comforting. Peter's mind quickly figured that when he accidentally fell asleep last night while waiting, Sable's hands never released their grip from his shirt and she remained fast asleep next to him. He blushed a little bit as he took notice of her eyes that were still closed, but her beautiful face was red in the cheeks as well and the area around her eyes were twitching slightly.

"Sable...are you awake?" Peter quietly asked. He wasn't sure whether she woke up already.

The sound of Peter's voice calling out to her promptly halted the thoughts in her head as Sable opened her eyes to look at him who seemed to be awake now.

"Good morning...I hope you had a decent night's sleep?" she greeted with a small smile.

Peter sat himself up a bit which loosened the hold he had on Sable's waist with his left arm. Her arms that were on his chest slowly released themselves as well albeit reluctantly on Sable's part unbeknowst to Peter. He moved his neck around before returning her greeting with a small grin.

"One of the best night's rest I've had in a long time, Sable and I'm being honest about that...Sorry about you having to sleep next to me last night though, that was my fault. It didn't seem right for me to let you just sleep standing up in the halls and I don't really know where your own room is. The best thing I could think of was to let you have the bed while I slept on the couch but by the time I placed you on the bed, I was too tired to walk away and before I knew it, I fell asleep as well." Peter stated with a apologetic tone behind his voice.

He didn't believe it was necessary to tell her that he had been waiting for her to let go of his shirt just before he had fallen asleep.

Sable already had an idea as to why she ended up sleeping next to him however. She could vaguely recall her hands holding onto Peter as he carried her in his arms but decided not to mention it.

"Don't apologize, Peter...I should be thanking you instead for taking the time to accompany me to bed. Your presence next to me was very comfortable and relaxing as I slept." Sable replied in all honesty, fully aware of the small blush revealing on her face.

He simply smiled warmly in response with a blush on his face as well. They looked into each other's eyes and held their gazes for a significant amount of time. They were unaware that both were complimenting the sight of the other's features, Peter marveling at Sable's beautiful form and Sable admiring Peter's handsome face. The sun that was now in it's rightful position in the sky shone down on both individuals as they kept their eyes on each other.

Peter and Sable would've remained lost in each other's gaze for longer had the sound of knocking not made it's presence known at the door. They both realized that they had lost track of time and quickly shook themselves out of their trance. Sable regained her composure swiftly before addressing whoever it was at the door.

"_Yes? What is it?"_

_"My apologies, Ms Sablinova. I was wondering if you required anything this morning." _A woman's voice answered from outside. Peter guessed that it must've been one of the ten maids that worked here in Sable's mansion.

She looked at Peter briefly before turning back towards the door to instruct her maid.

_"Yes, I want you to bring in a set of combat fatigues from the armoury. Leave it by the dresser at the front and instruct Sofia to prepare breakfast. I and my guest will be down shortly."_

_"Understood, Ms Sablinova. Sofia has already begun to work on breakfast." _the Symkarian maid bowed slightly and left to complete her instructions.

Sable faced Peter again with a small grin as she spoke to him.

"I should probably head back to my room. I must shower before we head down for breakfast...thank you again for being here."

Peter nodded and was going to say something in return but he was taken by surprise when Sable leaned in and gave him a small peck on his cheek before she swiftly left for her own room. His fingers reached up to touch the spot where her lips made contact and was understandably dumbfounded by what just happened.

A strong sense of hunger elicited a just as strong growl from his stomach, stopping his mind from thinking anymore on it for now as he knew that he needed to take a shower as well. Grabbing a towel from one of the drawers beside the bed, Peter walked his way into the bathroom.

In a room little further down the hall, Sable was in her bathroom beginning to take her own shower. She didn't know what led her to gently kiss Peter on the cheek, the action happened before she could stop herself. Her heart and mind did not seem to have a problem with what was done, however, Sable was glad that she did so though she was still puzzled as to why.

"I suppose it can't hurt to admit that I like Peter a little more than I would've thought...but does he feel the same about me?"

Her thoughts were getting increasingly occupied with questions like this. Sable hadn't felt this way since she was really young, during the time of happiness in her life before her mother was killed in front of her. That day was the reason as to why she kept such strong control with her emotions but it seemed her attraction to Peter that grew stronger each time she worked with him was starting to bring back some of those long locked feelings.

Sable pushed away those thoughts for now as she turned off the shower and got dressed. It was still too early for her to deal with those feelings though she knew she would have to confront them sooner or later. She sighed to herself quietly as she tied her hair back and put on a pair of dark blue jeans and long sleeved white shirt. It was rare that Sable wore civilian clothing given her life as a former mercenary but there had been no signs of major trouble in Symkaria other than the recently averted crisis. It couldn't hurt for her to take a few days off as well and given Peter's likely lack of knowledge in the layout of Symkaria, Sable decided that she would personally show him around her beloved homeland.

If nothing else, it would give her a chance to get to know him better than she had before.

With a final check of herself in the mirror, Sable left her bedroom and made her way back to the door of Peter's room. She raised her left hand and knocked gently on the door.

"Peter?"

A short interval passed before his response was heard.

"I'm here, just give me a minute."

Peter was just putting on the shirt of the outfit that the maid had left for him while he was in the shower. His ensemble was a simple black shirt that fit well on him with a pair of black combat fatigue like pants. He wondered briefly about the pants but dismissed the question as he opened the door to greet Sable, who was patiently waiting for him.

"All set, Sable...I hope breakfast is ready because I feel really hungry right about now and I feel like eating a lot...so here's also hoping that the food is plentiful."

Sable laughed quietly at that. It seemed that she was able to laugh more often than usual whenever she interacted with Peter.

"I'm certain that Sofia has already prepared breakfast for us. After we eat, I'll take you to the city and accompany you to make sure you don't get lost as you make your necessary purchases." She informed.

Peter was taken back a little by that. Silver Sable, the beautiful Symkarian mercenary, was willing to spend the day with him? While he figured she would take some time to rest as well, he wasn't expecting her to spend some of that time with him. Then again, what she said did make some sense. Peter didn't know his way around here all that well and who better to show him around Symkaria than Sable herself?

"Uh if that's alright with you, then I guess I wouldn't mind the company."

Sable picked up a potential moment to mess with Peter again in his sentence just now and acted on it immediately.

"You guess?...I'm not that bad of a person to be with, am I?"

His reaction was instantaneous and predictably hilarious. He blinked once at her and turned slightly red with a panicked look on his face while trying to speak again.

"No that's not what I-I meant! I just thought you would do something else rather than be with m-" Peter stopped talking as soon as he saw Sable breaking down with genuine laughter. The sight of that made him quickly figure out that she had just been joking.

A couple of minutes passed before she was able to partially control herself and speak again albeit with a small degree of difficulty.

"Forgive me, Peter...but I could not resist the opportunity you gave me." Sable found it enjoyable at least for her to catch him off guard with situations like these. The expressions and ensuing body language Peter made in response made him look all the more adorable.

"Warn me when you do that next time." He murmured quietly with a small grin.

Sable responded with a grin of her own as she turned to walk for the stairs.

"Where would the fun be if I did that? We should probably head down for breakfast now though...considering your stomach's been growling for some time."

He just nodded and followed her lead towards the steps.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that I'm rubbing off on you a little." Peter said halfway down the stairs.

Sable didn't say anything to that until they both reached the end of the stairs and walked towards the entrance of her relatively large dining room.

"Maybe...but I'm certainly not complaining that you're the one I'm learning from." She stated with a hint of mischief in her voice as she walked in first.

Peter briefly wondered what she meant by that but left the question for another time as his stomach growled again, making him feel just how hungry he was as he eagerly followed her into the dining room as well.

- **Again, the lines spoken with italics means that they are conversing in Symkarian for anyone who got confused by that. I had fun writing this chapter though admittedly I did stuck a few times from writer's block. Sometimes I run into the problem of wanting to continue the story but come up short with good ideas..man do I hate that.**

**- Regardless of that though, I still enjoyed writing this chapter. I'm still a beginner when it comes to writing intimate moments though so I apologize ahead of time if anyone sees it as too amateurish. In any case, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please keep the reviews coming. They are integral to any writer's plans for improvement. **


	7. Chapter 7

- **A big thank you to kindleflame5, Lord of Daemons, NeoTyson, Kyuubiman, and FrivolousThoughts for again taking the time to review and leaving much needed advice. Any bit of help is always welcome. Looks like a lot of you feel that Sable should make the first move on Peter.**

**- After two weeks worth of final exams, I'm glad to say I have more time on my hands now that my semester is over. So long as nothing serious happens, I should be able to focus most of my attention on my first story. There were some things I noticed that might've been a few mistakes on my part. Checking on the canon Marvel info sites, I read several times that the Wild Pack Mercenary group has long been defunct. I'm not sure whether or not this is valid so if anyone could verify this for me, I can make the appropriate edits to the previous chapters.**

**Without further ado, here's the next chapter... **

Peter was currently trying on a shirt that he picked out while Sable waited for him patiently outside the change room. They were in the midst of shopping for the extra clothes he needed during his stay in Symkaria. It took them little more than an hour's drive for them to reach the city and he had already gotten the supplies he needed to make extra web fluid. They were now in a clothing store that Sable recommended.

Their breakfast earlier in the morning was very comfortable with a few good conversations that he and Sable shared amongst themselves at the dining room table. The food was thankfully plentiful due in no small part to her cook, Sofia, whose skills in the culinary arts could almost rival his Aunt May's cooking. When Sable introduced Peter to her, he took a liking to the pretty brunette almost immediately due to her friendly and cheerful disposition. Sofia told him in relatively good english she had a strong hunch that she would have to prepare a little more dishes than usual since she and her fellow employee normally cooked for Sable only.

Peter just smiled and thanked her in sincere gratefulness for preparing that much food for breakfast. Her eyes, he recalled, widened a little when he told her he had not eaten well in the last two days and was more than happy to have a nice warm meal again. One bite into the large lavish plate of food Sofia served for him and Peter's face broke into an expression of goofy euphoria at the delicious taste of her cooking, the sight of which was enough to make both her and Sable smirk a bit. For the most part, the morning passed without much trouble.

One moment came however that would make the day stick out a little bit.

He was just talking with Sable about where they would go today when Sofia picked up the phone that rang in the midst of her cleaning the dishes. After a small greeting of hello and asking who it was, she walked over to hand the phone to Sable but not before mentioning that a Spider-Woman was on the line asking for her. She took the phone and asked whether something was wrong. The answer must've been a long and important one as she and Jessica conversed for a few minutes while he waited to be informed. Peter guessed that Jessica probably asked her whether she knew who Spider-Man was under the mask at one point due to Sable mentioning that she did know that it was indeed Peter who was secretly Spider-Man.

At that point, Sable only said a few more words to Jessica before handing the phone to him.

"Spider-Woman has something important to tell that you need to know about, Peter."

He noted the small sign of worry in her eyes before turning his attention to his female superhero counterpart on the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Peter, sorry to bother you on your vacation..." she paused momentarily.

"It's alright, Jessica. What's up?"

"You should know that the SHIELD salvage team last night found something...Natasha found the bodies of Octavius and Rhino drifting and officially confirmed their deaths. They also arrested Sandman although I'm told it wasn't difficult at all since you guys reduced him to a single grain of sand and kept him confined within a small container."

Peter couldn't say anything to that at first. Though he barely felt sorry in the slightest that the two supervillains were dead, a small part of him couldn't help but feel that some of the blame was his to begin with.

Jessica's voice rang up again, stopping his moment of brooding.

"Peter, it wasn't your fault alright? Like Cap said, you didn't kill them, their own twisted plans did that. The important thing to remember is you saved Sable's life despite the odds and both of you are still alive... that's something I'm more than happy about."

He couldn't help but take relief at what Jessica had said. The fact that he was able to save the woman that had been on his mind a lot lately was very consoling in his heart.

"Thanks Jessica, I'm happy to be alive too. Not being able to hear your lovely voice one last time would've really sucked."

She giggled a little before replying.

"Aw Peter, I didn't know you cared that much but I'm glad you're ok. I gotta get back to it though...if there's anything else I might've missed, I'll call again. In the meantime, make sure you enjoy your stay with Sable, understood?"

"Yes Ma'am." he said with a small chuckle and after a word of goodbye, both hung up.

Peter set the phone down and handed it back to Sable who had a look of concern on her face. A moment of silence passed before she spoke up again.

"...She's right, you know. Don't blame yourself when you did nothing wrong."

He sighed quietly as he answered back.

"I know, Sable. It's just something that's still fresh right now...I'm really glad that I was able to save you."

"I only made it out because you refused to give up on me and that is something I will forever be thankful for. Not only for this but also all the other times you've saved me in the past, Peter." she said with a gentle smile.

He brightened a little bit more at that and returned her smile.

"I think now would be a good time for us to venture into the city so you can buy what you need." Sable suggested as she got up.

Peter nodded and got up as well. He had quickly said his thanks again to Sofia before following Sable out to her car...

He brought his mind back to the here and now in the changing room as he finally slipped on the shirt and stepped out. Sable was waiting and sitting patiently in a chair outside of the change room when she heard the door open.

"Heh...so how do I look?" Peter was wearing a cobalt blue t-shirt with a comfortable pair of dark blue jeans.

She gave him a quick look over and made her assessment.

"You look just fine, I'm glad to see you have simple tastes. Is that the last one you're picking out?" Sable pointed to the four other outfits piled beside her on the chair.

"Yeah, this should hold me over for the time I'm here...although I gotta ask, why did you choose this for me?" Peter held up a rather formal looking but well designed black suit from the pile.

Sable just grinned mysteriously at that.

"It never hurts to have formal wear on hand, Peter. After all you never know when you need one."

He wondered about what she meant by her words as he went back to the change room to switch to his old clothes. Peter didn't expect Sable to pick out something like that for him. He didn't really have anything against formal wear but it wasn't very often he wore something of that sort...mostly because in the past he didn't have the money to get a good suit. Even though he could afford a reasonably priced one now, there weren't many occasions that gave him a reason to wear them unless one counted the numerous funerals he had been to.

Back in his borrowed clothing of the simple black shirt and combat like pants, Peter stepped out again and walked with Sable to the cash register up front so she could make the purchase. It wasn't a big store like he normally expected out of a city but more of a small shop that gave off a homely and comfortable feeling. There didn't seem to be anyone else here but them. The person at the cash register was a kind looking elderly woman who welcomed them warmly in Symkarian when they entered. From the way they talked with each other, he guessed that her and Sable have known each other for a long time.

Peter stood waiting for the old woman to bag his selected clothing as she conversed with Sable. While Peter did not understand the language, he had a strange feeling that they were talking about him in some way.

He had no idea just how right he was.

Sable was speaking with the friendly old lady in Symkarian as she paid for the clothes she and Peter selected. The woman was an old friend of her's as well as her mother's from way back in her childhood. Sable was checking up on how well the woman she considered to be a second mother was doing when the old lady finally brought up the topic of Peter.

"_So who is the dashing young man you brought with you?"_

Sable couldn't help but blush a little bit.

_"...A close friend that I've known for years. Let's just say that he's saved my life many times."_

There was a slight twinkle in the kind eyes of the old woman.

_"It's been forever since I've seen you walking with another man so casually...is that all you see him as?"_

Sable knew what she was asking about but decided to tell her. Perhaps the best way to sort out her feelings was to talk about it with someone she trusted.

"_I don't know...over the years I've known and worked with Peter, I've slowly warmed up to him and his unique personality. Now it's to the point where I am constantly thinking of Peter and his well being. Even when he is not in danger, I think of him."_

The elderly woman shook her head slightly with a grin before speaking to Sable again with a comforting tone.

"_My dear, call me old fashioned for it is most appropriate given my age but it sounds to me like you are falling in love with this handsome man."_

To her credit, Sable only widened her eyes a little bit. Hearing the motherly woman accurately guess of Sable's growing feelings for Peter somehow made it easier for her to finally accept them completely.

"_I...believe so as well. When I kissed Peter for the first time, I felt something. I didn't know what it was at the time but I knew it was something right, as though it was something that I needed to pursue and hold on to." _

"_Something tells me you have not told him how you truly feel."_

This time, the old woman caught a discreet sign of worry in Sable's eyes.

"_I've been trying to figure out these feelings only recently and the doubt that the relationship may not work is always there. You know as well as I do that I'm not the best person to get along with on a personal level."_

Putting a hand on Sable's shoulder, the elderly lady spoke again.

"_You're afraid that Peter does not return your feelings_ _but the fact that he agreed to stay with you when you asked tells me otherwise. For the first time in many years, you finally admitted that you are in love with someone and I can tell it is genuine this time. It is up to you now to tell Peter that you love him...only then will you have taken the first steps in making sure you found the right one."_

Sable did not say anything right away but her mind worked out the truth behind the words of her old friend. If Sable wanted to be in a relationship with Peter, she would have to reveal the feelings she harboured for him. How she would tell him, Sable didn't know, but she felt adamant in finding a way.

"_A task easier said than done..." _she slowly said._ "but you're right. I will tell Peter somehow, thank you for your support."_

_"I'm always here to help you. I wish nothing but the best of luck for the both of you." _The aged woman spoke warmly.

Sable embraced the kind elderly lady and gave her farewells before before taking the bags of clothes with one hand and grabbing Peter's with her other to lead him out the door.

Peter gave the old woman a friendly wave as he exited, a gesture she returned in kind. He was lead outside back to the car with his hand still in Sable's until she popped open the trunk and put the bags in.

"Is everything ok, Sable?" Peter asked remembering the old woman's gestures of comfort to her during their conversation. He had waited patiently from the side for them to catch up.

"Everything's just fine. We were actually talking about something very good...you'll really like the clothes. She makes them so that they last long and don't rip as easily." she informed him with a small grin.

He pondered on whether that last part of her sentence was meant to be a subject changer but seeing as she didn't seem troubled, Peter decided to drop it.

"Is there anything else you require?" Sable asked.

He thought about what else he might have needed during his stay here. There wasn't much he could really think of. Peter already knew of the lack of under garments problem before reaching the clothing shop and as soon as they got there, he picked up four pairs of comfortable underwear from the men's section.

"Nothing else really comes to mind for now." he said with a shrug.

Sable nodded in understanding.

"Let me know when you think of something. In the meantime, I think it'd be good for me to take you to see the sights you wanted."

Peter smiled brightly. This was something that he had been looking forward to since the last time he was here.

"Lead the way then, Sable."

-** Does anyone else ever have that bad moment when you have a really good idea but immediately forget about it the minute your attention is elsewhere? That's pretty much what happens to me almost everytime I write. I'd think of something good but then something else comes and completely takes my mind away. Again the dialogue in italics means they are speaking in Symkarian.**

**- In any case, I hope this chapter was to your liking and again I encourage all of you to please review.** **I'll do my best to update as quickly as I can.**


	8. Chapter 8

- **Again, special thanks goes out to Kyubbiman, NeoTyson, Frivolous Thoughts, The New Creed, Kindleflame5, and alchemist19. Not sure whether alchemist19's review was meant to be a compliment but I assume it is. I'm glad to hear that many of you liked the previous chapter. **

**- I've decided to let Peter Parker have the time off that he deserves without any troubles because I'm tired of seeing him get screwed over just when things are getting good for him in the comics now. Not saying I'm qualified to write for Marvel but if I did work for them, let's just say Peter wouldn't have to deal with half the bullshit that's happened to him so far. **

**- Note: The single 'example' means it's someone's thoughts while the dialogue punctuation marks remains what it means, that someone is speaking.**

**More on that later, for now here is the next chapter. Enjoy! **

Peter was sitting in the car with Sable in comfortable silence as she drove them to their next destination. He did not yet know where it was she was taking them and when he asked her about it, she only told him that it was a place that she visited many times as a child and the sights there was unlike any other in Symkaria. What really confused him was the fact that they had stopped at a flower store earlier and picked up a bouqet of white poppies.

While he was naturally curious about the flowers, something told him to refrain from asking about it.

'Poppies...flowers of remembrance. This place we're going to must be really special to her.' Peter thought.

Looking out the window, he could tell they were in the outskirts of the city judging from the lack of buildings in the upcoming streets. Patches of grassland and trees were becoming more and more common as they continued down the road. Even that looked majestic to him...maybe that was the reason why Peter looked so forward to seeing the sights in Symkaria. In New York, it was almost hard to see any natural forests or fields even with Central Park being there. There were times when he just wanted to get away from the busy life of Queens for a bit and take a simple walk through the roads Mother Nature provided. The city here was unlike most cities he had visited in the United States. While it was still large like the Big Apple, the atmosphere of the urban area reminded him more of a small town. Whereas the sidewalks of New York were always crowded 24-7, around here people walked the streets as well but they were somehow doing so smoothly rather than the rushed fashion back home. The funny thing was that they had less traffic problems here in Symkaria than New York since, from what he could tell, people walked more than they drove despite a lot of them owning a car.

Peter couldn't help but think that his Aunt May would've been really happy living here if she had not moved to Boston with J. Jameson Senior.

'Simple life, clean air, and no stress. Not a bad way to live in retirement.' Peter mentally smiled at that.

He briefly wondered on how Aunt May was doing when Sable's voice was heard.

"We're here, Peter."

He felt the car slowing down as she turned left and slowly drove into an empty space. As Peter got out, he could tell the place they were at was some sort of a large park given the worn down trails and large groups of trees his eyes were seeing from the surrounding area. There was a large clear blue lake just across from where the car was with a beach front that people could walk on beside the body of water.

He turned to look at Sable and felt a bit of concern when he saw a small expression of guilt in her eyes before it just as quickly disappeared.

"Sable?"

His voice brought back her attention.

"Hm? Oh, my apologies Peter. Welcome to one of the National Parks of Symkaria."

"Are you alright?" His concern for her was still present.

She nodded once at his inquiry.

"I'm fine...just thinking of my old memories here as a child. It is nothing to worry about."

Peter was a little unconvinced by that but knew there was nothing he could do if Sable didn't want to share what was bothering her.

"Come, I promised you that the scenery here would be spectacular and there is a place I know of that shows the perfect view of such." Sable grabbed Peter's hand with one of her own while her other held the bouqet of white poppies.

Normally Peter would've been surprised that he was holding hands with Sable but he had sort of grown used to that by now and even looked forward to it sometimes as they made their way towards a worn down trail.

A small breeze blew by them as they walked on the traveled road. Every now and then he saw some small flowers accompanying the pine trees that were on both sides of the trail. There were some birds chirping away in the far distance and when Peter looked to his right, he could tell that they were slowly walking towards higher ground as the lake below was getting a bit smaller.

"So Sable..." Peter began.

"Yes?"

"I don't want to pry into your personal business so it's ok if you don't want to answer...may I ask what the flowers are for?"

There was no immediate response and Peter feared he may have inquired about something he shouldn't have. He was about to apologize when he heard her speak again.

"These are for someone important to me...someone I lost early in my life." she said softly.

Taking in what he just heard, Peter mentally slapped himself for not realizing soon enough why she bought the white poppies.

"I'm sorry, Sable...I shouldn't have said anything about it."

She shook her head gently and looked at him with a small smile on her face.

"It is alright, Peter. You didn't know but I appreciate your concern." She gave a small squeeze of his hand with her own.

He noted that they had stopped walking and they were now in front of two separate trails. Sable slowly released her hand from his and spoke again.

"The gravesite I have to visit is on this trail to the left. The place I told you about is on the other. Just keep walking until you pass the fifth pine tree and turn right. Walk in that direction until you see a smooth white stone and step north of it. It is there you will see the most perfect sight that Symkaria has to offer."

Peter found it a bit unusual that her directions were so...precise but he figured it must've been a place that only she knew about and decided to go with it.

"Do you...want me to go with you?" He asked.

Sable just shook her head.

"I'll be fine but thank you. Just meet me there when you're done, walk straight down my trail and you'll find me." she said politely. Though he felt a little hesitant to leave, he nodded and began to walk towards the trail on the right as Sable made her way to the left.

'I hope she's ok.' It wasn't often Sable showed much of her emotions but it seems in the time he's been with her, she was showing this warmer side of herself to him. That included the small signs of distress he picked up on from time to time and Peter couldn't help but feel worried for her.

He continued his pace on the trail and would walk for another five minutes until he passed the first of the five pine trees that Sable had described. Feeling that he wasn't too far off from the spot, he sped up a little bit and soon passed the third tree. After another ten minutes of a small jogging pace, Peter finally got to the fifth pine tree and turned right as Sable instructed.

Noting that he was on even higher ground due to the air being a little bit harder to take in, Peter kept walking to the right until his eyes caught sight of a large flat white stone in the middle of the grassy ground. He could see a cliff north of the stone and following Sable's directions to the letter, stepped that way to see what was overhead.

What Peter saw took his breath away.

It was a perfect overhead view of what seemed to be the entire park. The large lake appeared to be sparkling as it was surrounded by the green fields of grass. The surrounding forests looked plentiful and full of life; the few hills and mountains overshadowing the forest added to the majestic sight before him. Though they were too small for him to pick out individually, the groups of flowers he could see decorated certain parts of the land in the right spots with it's different colours.

"I should've brought my camera." Peter muttered. Though he knew a simple picture of the view before him just wouldn't be the same as the real world experience.

Peter kept his eyes on the magnificient sight a little bit longer before he decided to sit down on the white boulder.

"Sable certainly wasn't lying, that was the most breathtaking piece of scenery I've ever seen. Gotta remember to thank her for this later." he said to himself. Peter took in a breath of the fresh air and closed his eyes. A gentle breeze brushed past his face as his thoughts began to turn to Silver Sable again. Peter noticed his mind was becoming more and more preoccupied with thoughts of the beautiful Symkarian former mercenary and in turn made him wonder about what he truly felt for her...

Now was a good time as any to sort out his feelings.

Peter didn't deny that he found Sable to be very attractive but what left him uncertain was whether he wanted to be something more with her than just close friends. He didn't have anything against the idea but the memories of his past relationships held Peter back from fully accepting his feelings for Sable; feelings that were getting harder to ignore.

The last long-term relationship he was in was with M.J. and at the time, Peter thought he found the right one. So much so that he almost married her but in the end, it didn't work out because M.J. wanted Peter Parker only, not Spider-Man. His most recent break up had been with Carlie Cooper and though their relationship worked for a bit, it ultimately failed because again of his life as Spider-Man.

Peter's thoughts then turned to Gwen Stacy...his first true love. Peter remembered how he had been prepared to spend the rest of his life with Gwen by proposing to her but he would never get that chance as her life was tragically ended too soon. All because of his failure to save her. Peter felt a strong sense of grief at the vivid memory of holding Gwen's body and it never failed to bring him close to tears everytime he thought about it. He held himself back from doing so this time as he opened his eyes again.

It was humourous to Peter in a morbid sort of way that his past relationships had all failed because of his work as Spider-Man.

He found his feelings for Sable to be a little different in a certain way. Unlike the others (with the exception of Gwen as she never found out), Sable accepted him as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. She was extremely beautiful and alluring, something that he never got tired of thinking about, intelligent, and very formidable in battle. While it was natural that he would still be worried for Sable due to her being a normal human, Peter felt he wouldn't have to worry as much due to her resourcefulness and deadly combat skills.

Whenever she looked at him or held his hand with her own, Peter's heart always beated a little faster. He was constantly thinking about her and everytime she spoke to him, his attention was completely focused on Sable. Thinking back to his first kiss with Sable, Peter didn't just enjoy the feeling of her lips pressed against his. There was something else there, he didn't understand what it was at the time but he knew it was something special...in a very good way.

With a small sigh, Peter finally decided to admit it. "No sense in denying it anymore...I'm in love with Sable."

Taking a minute to acknowledge the fact, he quickly felt as though a weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. Peter welcomed the feeling but then realized something else.

"How do I tell her?" He wasn't exactly the best with words. Just telling her out of the blue was also out of the question.

Peter tried to think of a meaningful way for a bit before he stood to make his way back to Sable. He would admit to her how he felt when the opportunity arised at the right moment.

Already knowing the way, it didn't take long for Peter to return to the starting point where the trails had branched off. Of course he did so in a light jog but he figured it couldn't hurt to get a small bit of exercise out of the hike back. Reaching the end of the path he just came from, Peter turned towards the left and walked down the other trail.

Looking around as he kept a steady pace, Peter remembered Sable saying she was here to pay her respects to someone she lost. He realized it would be best if he looked for her in respectable silence. After all, the times he visited Uncle Ben's grave or Gwen's was always done in preferable silence. It made it easier for him at least to reflect on what happened and help renew a sense of peace within his mind. Peter continued his walk until he reached a clearing and a small set of stairs.

Taking a look ahead, he could see rows and rows of white gravemarkers lined up on a large green field. Flags representing Symkaria were set on the outskirts of the perimeter around the cemetery. This place reminded him of the veteran memorials that was set for those killed in the many wars the United States had participated in.

Peter began to search for Sable as soon as he stepped off the last set of stairs. He strolled into a row of gravemarkers and noticed many of the names were set in both presumably Symkarian and English. The white gravemarkers didn't look any more different than the other aside from the many different names etched on each one. Peter wasn't the only person here as he could see some other people paying their respects to their lost loved ones. Some were crying as they laid down their flowers.

That was a reaction he understood all too well. Sometimes the pain of losing someone very cherished was so strong that no matter how much time passed, it never stops the tears from coming the moment you think of them again.

Reaching the end of the row he was walking in, Peter turned his head to look to the right. His eyes caught sight of a slightly larger gravemarker that was a little bit away from the rows and rows of gravemarkers he was standing amongst. Unlike these simple square ones, this certain gravemarker looked to be more rectangular with a flag post stemming up from the middle of it. Trusting his instincts, he decided to walk towards the separate gravemarker.

Peter felt his heart warm up when he found the person he had been looking for standing in front of the white gravestone.

"Sable?"

She turned around to face him at the sound of his voice calling her name.

The concern he felt earlier immediately came back when Peter saw the faint expression of grief in Sable's eyes. He quickly walked to her side as she turned back to face the gravestone which had the bouqet of white poppies placed in front of it. He looked at the name that was inscribed on the grave.

"**Anastasia Sablinova**" There were some words carved in Symkarian below the name that Peter couldn't make out but he knew from the last name that this woman Anastasia was obviously a close family member of Sable's.

Peter wanted to ask who Anastasia was but knew it was none of his business unless Sable told him herself. He could tell that she was still mourning the loss of this woman from the faint sign of grief she expressed in her eyes and the small frown on her face. Peter tried to think of something to say to lighten the mood when her voice was finally heard.

"She was my mother." Sable said softly.

He couldn't say anything to that at first but his heart felt sympathetic pain for her.

"I'm sorry." it was about the only words Peter thought was proper to say right now.

She nodded once and looked at him briefly before turning her attention back to the grave stone.

"She...gave her life to save mine from a terrorist bombing attempt at my home when I was a child. There was nothing I could do except hold her in my arms as she told me her last words and when she passed...I felt as though I was completely useless. I knew there was something I should've done to save my mother but in the end, there was nothing I could've done." There was a strong hint of sadness in her voice.

The sympathy that Peter felt for her was quickly overtaken by anger at the people who had tried to kill Sable as a child. He was barely able to calm himself down before he spoke again.

"Why did they try to kill you?"

Peter knew this was something she didn't like to talk about as it took a few moments for Sable to reply.

"...My parents were the ones who established the original Wild Pack to hunt down Nazi terrorists and bring them to justice. They were extremely effective at rooting them out and killed many of them for the war crimes they committed. There were some survivors however who swore vengeance on my father and his family. While they failed in their only attempt, they still took away the life of the woman my father and I loved."

"What happened to your father?" he asked.

"He hunted down the people who were responsible for the death of my mother and killed them all...I have not heard from him since then."

Peter's mind and heart was reeling in silent rage after hearing of the pain Sable went through as a child. He understood now why she kept such a tight control of her emotions. That feeling of being helpless and useless was something he was all too familiar with. When Uncle Ben died, Peter knew that he could've prevented that from happening if he hadn't been such a selfish idiot with his powers. It took his uncle's death to make him realize that with great power comes great responsiblility. Even with that hard taught lesson, there were times when his power just wasn't enough to save everyone he cared about.

He looked at Sable who had a somber expression on her face. She turned her head to face him as well and Peter nodded slightly as a sign for her to continue.

"Everytime I come here, I think about what might've been if I was able to save her...but then I realize it's too late and the thoughts of what I could've done differently is nothing more than a vain attempt in making myself forget the loss." Sable stated sadly.

Peter wanted to say some words but came up short with the right ones. What she was feeling now was almost identical to how he felt everytime he thought of the loved ones he lost. Though many others would tell him that it wasn't his fault, there were times when it felt more right to blame himself despite knowing it was wrong to do so.

Sable seemed to be on the verge of breaking away a few tears and Peter knew it was only right for him to try to comfort her. At a loss for the right words, Peter decided to let his next action convey the message to Sable that he was here for her.

Noticing that Peter was moving his body slightly, Sable looked away from her mother's grave to see what he was doing. She was completely unprepared when Peter suddenly wrapped his arms around and held her in a firm embrace.

The feeling of his arms around her gave Sable a rare but warm sense of security and for the first time in many years, she allowed her held back tears to flow freely. Sable wasn't sobbing uncontrollably but for much of her life since her mother's death, she never permitted herself to cry in the slightest; least of all in front of anyone even when the need to do so was overwhelming. But with Peter, Sable felt it was ok to finally let go of some of her pain in his presence because she knew he would never judge her for being human when it mattered.

Sable hugged him just as tightly, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning her head against his chest as she let the few tears flow. She could feel Peter's hands gently running around her back in small circular motions in a very soothing and comforting manner. The warmth that his body gave off added to the sense of safety she felt in his presence. Sable didn't know how long Peter had held her for but she didn't care...she wanted him to keep her in his arms and never let go.

"I'm not gonna say I know exactly how you feel, Sable." Peter began quietly. She looked up at him curiously and waited for him to continue.

"But I do know something damn close to it. My Uncle Ben, the man who raised me, was killed because of my inactions." He finished with a tone of regret.

"What happened?" Sable asked softly. She knew there was more to this unfortunate tragedy.

It wasn't exactly the best memory Peter liked to talk about but he wanted to let Sable know that he understood her feelings of grief.

"...When I first recieved my powers, I initially saw them as a way to better my own life and that of my Aunt and Uncle. There was this wrestling show back then that offered a large cash prize but when I won, the manager wouldn't pay me. I was about to leave the building when I saw a thief running towards me with a huge bag of stolen money. I could've stopped him...but I let the thief escape."

"Why?"

"I was mad at the manager for not giving me what I earned and I wanted to make him see that. I didn't think it was my problem to deal with and thought nothing more of it until I got home..." He paused. It's been years since that fateful mistake but it still hurt to think about it.

Sable brought her hand up and placed it gently on the side of Peter's face as a gesture of comfort. The feeling of her soft hand helped ease the pain of the vivid memory and Peter managed to return a small but grateful smile for her efforts.

"The first thing I noticed was the presence of the police around my house. One of the officers came up and told me my Uncle had been shot. You can imagine how angry I was to hear that...seeing my Aunt May crying in grief only added to my desire to hunt down whoever did this. When I finally caught up to the murderer, I was shocked at who he was."

"Who was it?" The question came out a little hesitantly.

Peter replied with a mixture of pride and sadness behind his voice.

"...the same thief that I had let go. I wanted to kill him but I realized nothing would've changed even if I did so I webbed him up and left the matter to the police. I finally understood then what my Uncle had tried to teach me earlier that day: With great power comes great responsibility."

To say that Sable was appalled to hear this would've been quite the understatement. She couldn't believe the cruel twist of fate that had befallen on him and on instinct, Sable held Peter even more tightly. She looked at him directly in the eyes and it was there she could see the immense guilt fully expressed. The sight of which made her realize that more than anyone else she knew, Peter was the one who understood her the best. They both had lived through that terrible feeling of loss and helplessness at the expense of the ones they loved and felt the same intense desire for vengeance on those who wronged them. What set them apart was that she let the loss harden her personality but Peter had the strong resolve to remain true to who he was and Sable couldn't help but respect him even more than ever for taking the more difficult path.

It was a new factor of Peter Parker Sable learned of today that made her even more in love with him.

"I understand now...why you choose to be a superhero with such a strong sense of responsibility." She said.

He nodded gently. "I couldn't live myself if someone innocent was hurt because I simply failed to act when I could've."

There was nothing more Sable or Peter could say for now as silence soon set in. They remained in each other's arms, neither individual wanting to let go of the other. Sable was more glad than ever that Peter was here with her. This was the first time she visited her mother's grave with another person present, she had always felt uncomfortable at the idea of bringing other people with her when she came here. Her visits to Anastasia was one of the few times she allowed herself to express her emotions of sadness in private and admittedly Sable never wanted anyone else to see this vulnerable side of her, not even her remaining blood relatives and close friends.

With Peter though, it was different. Sable didn't have any reservations about him seeing her in an emotional state because she knew that he had gone through similar experiences of guilt as she did. The tragedy that occured early in his superhero life Peter just spoke of was more comforting to her than the empty words of condolences many other people gave at her mother's funeral.

"It's...been years since I've spoken of my mother's passing to anyone." Sable whispered quietly, breaking the silence.

Peter moved his head so that he was looking directly at her. Her eyes were slightly red from the tears that had fallen.

"You didn't have to tell me what happened. I would've understood if you wanted to keep it to yourself."

Sable managed to give him a small smile. It warmed her heart to see how much Peter cared for her.

"You're right, I didn't but I'm glad I did. You being here made it possible for me to be at peace with what happened...Thank you."

"It's part of my superhero rulebook, Sable...make others feel better by comparing them to me." Peter quipped. It was a lame joke but Sable rolled her eyes in good humour nonetheless.

On his part, Peter was happy to see her smiling again. He wasn't the best at comforting people but was proud that he managed when it concerned the woman he was in love with. Even now, Sable still looked beautiful to him and when she smiled, her beauty somehow went to a whole new level; something Peter didn't think was possible.

Peter raised his hand to brush aside a strand of hair from her face. Sable visibily blushed at the action but instinctively held on to his wrist as he tried to move his hand away, keeping it placed on the side of her face. Peter was a little surprised by this but he then realized how close their faces were, their lips just barely outside of the other's reach.

Sable felt her heart beating rapidly as she slowly moved her face closer to his. There was no doubt anymore: she was very much in love with Peter Parker and she wanted to be with him no matter what. His lips inches away from hers, Sable gave in to what her heart and mind desired and passionately pressed her lips against Peter's.

Peter's eyes widened at the feeling of her kissing him but he quickly closed them and kissed her back just as deeply. What little hesitation Peter had about his feelings immediately went away: he was in love with Silver Sable and nothing was going to change that.

Sable pressed her hand on Peter's chest, leaning into the kiss making it more passionate than it already was. She moaned a little bit, Peter was a really great kisser. She felt both his hands place themselves on her hips and in turn Sable placed her other hand on his chest, pressing even more of herself into the kiss. Sable was going to let Peter know how much she wanted him through their kiss.

Peter for his part didn't want to stop. It had been so long since he felt like this for someone else and he knew it was genuine with Sable. Her lips tasted like honey and mint at the same time. Peter could feel her leaning forward, putting more of herself into their kiss. He knew this was completely different from their first kiss; their first one had only unlocked their feelings but this kiss was an acceptance of their love for each other.

After a long moment of their lips locked together, Peter and Sable reluctantly pulled away so they could catch their breaths. Both were blushing and smiling at each other as they were very happy with what just happened.

Sable wrapped her arms around his neck and looked at Peter straight in his eyes.

"I've known for so long...I just couldn't bring myself to admit it because I was afraid you didn't feel the same for me. But now I have the strength to tell you what I should've said long ago: I love you, Peter Parker." Sable stated solemnly.

Peter gave her another quick kiss on the lips before pulling back and smiling widely again.

"I'm in love with you, Silver Sablinova...it took me a while to realize that but there's nothing I want more than to be with you."

Both felt the happiest they had ever been in a long time. They held onto each other, not wanting to let the special moment go at all. Sable rested her head against Peter's chest, listening to the rhythmic beats of his heart. Peter moved his head down so it was resting on top of Sable's, he could hear her breathing softly in contentment.

The distinct sounds of thunder in the distant sky made them suspect it was going to rain. Their hunch was proven correct when they reluctantly broke their embrace and looked up briefly to see dark clouds rolling in. Peter knew they were gonna get soaked if they didn't get back to her car soon. An idea popped into his head and though it was rather...flamboyant, Peter grinned mischievously at the thought.

Sable brought her eyes back to look at Peter and the large grin on his face surprised her a little. She was wondering what Peter was grinning about when Sable suddenly felt his arms pick her up bridal style.

"Peter?! Where are we going?" She asked with a little bit of excitement. He was now running with her in his arms back towards the trail.

Peter maintained his grin. "Where else, Sable? Back to your car, of course. Unless you don't mind being in the rain!"

She couldn't help but laugh a little at that. She did not expect Peter to make such a daring move but that was one of the many things she loved about him, pulling pleasant surprises when it's least anticipated.

Peter ran as fast as he could but he could tell it was a race he was going to lose as the rain was beginning to fall down rapidly. By the time they got back to her car, their clothes were already soaking wet from the rain. Despite that, both weren't upset in the slightest. As soon as Peter let go of Sable, both looked at each other in the eyes and laughed a little bit. They weren't going to let the rain bring down the feeling of happiness they felt.

Sable cupped Peter's face with her hands and affectionately kissed him once again. Peter held her close and kissed her back without hesitation. Though it was raining heavily now, they didn't feel cold in the slightest. The heat they felt from within was enough to keep them warm and in their minds and hearts, the moment could not have been more perfect.

- **It's only fair that you should know I'm a strong romantic at heart. O****f course, I'm still a little rough around the edges when it comes to writing scenes of this sort so if any of you felt that I didn't deliver properly...I apologize. (I know, I apologize for a lot of things.)**

**- The moment in the rain was a suggestion from my friend who said it never hurts to use a timeless classic. I thought why not, let's try it so I hope you enjoyed that** **bit as well.**

-** Nevertheless, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to update as soon as I can. Again I encourage all of you to please keep the reviews coming.**


	9. Chapter 9

-** Whew, am I glad to be back. Sorry about the lack of updates but it's been a really slow progress writing this chapter. As for the reason why...well, let's just say it's really hard to type with my right arm only. I broke my left arm recently while I was at work so it took a while to get rolling on this.**

**- My thanks to Dragonskyt, FrivolousThoughts, NeoTyson, Coopa-Cola, Kyubbiman, SpideyLegend, The New Creed, Superemozpowerz and Clouffie1986 for reviewing the last chapter. I'm very glad to hear that you all liked the romantic moment between Peter and Sable. Like I said before, I'm a strong romantic at heart and it's good to see many of you are as well.**

**- I will warn you now that in this chapter, there's going to be a uh, well...some intimate mature moments near the latter half. Not a full lemon per se because I can't write anything like that at all but enough so that you get the idea of where it's leading to...I hope. Another fair warning, this is literally the first time I've wrote something of this sort so take pity on me if you think it sucks.**

**Without further ado, I present the next chapter. Enjoy!**

The sound of the rain hitting the roof of her car was clearly heard as Sable drove herself and Peter home. At first they didn't feel any bit of cold from the rain but the strong downpour eventually forced herself and Peter to reluctantly break their kiss. Their clothes soaked with rain water were now getting the seats of the car wet. Still, this didn't do much to dampen her joy. Sable felt the happiest she had ever been in a very long time for she was finally able to tell Peter the love she felt for him and what made it even better was that Peter reciprocated her feelings. Now everything felt just right and perfect to her.

They passed the time during the long drive back to her house by talking about their respective lost loved ones. Sable was at first a little hesitant to speak of her mother, not because she didn't trust Peter but it had been years since she spoke of Anastasia and she wasn't too sure she could properly describe her person in the way she wanted. Thankfully, Peter understood her hesitation and started out first by speaking of his mother and father. She learned that Peter had already lost people he cared for very early in his life when he explained his aunt and uncle became his legal guardians after the death of his parents. Her heart softened when he stated that because his parents died when he was a child, he has a hard time remembering their faces. The best he could manage was remembering their names at least.

That was a situation Sable didn't envy one bit. While she still mourned the loss of her mother, Sable was glad for the good memories she retained of spending time with Anastasia. She couldn't imagine not being able to recall her mother's face nor not having any memories of her.

Peter saw the look of sadness Sable expressed and placed his hand on her shoulder. He told her it was ok because he still had their names to go by and the good stories that he's heard about them was more than enough to fill the gap. Peter then went on to talk about Aunt May and Uncle Ben and a little bit of what it was like to be raised by them. The way he described their kind natures told Sable that they were quite the likeable sort.

"They sound like very admirable people...I'm sorry I'll never have the chance to meet your Uncle Ben but I would love to meet your Aunt May one day." It would be interesting for her to meet the strong woman who had raised the man she loved.

Peter just smiled at that.

"I'm sure she'll love you, Sable. A little warning though, Aunt May has a tendency to spoil people with her cooking. Especially with first meetings."

"I'll be sure to watch out for that, Peter." she said with a little laugh.

It was then Sable decided to speak a little bit about her mother. Hearing Peter talk about his aunt and uncle as well as what little he knew of his parents made it easier for her to find the right words to describe Anastasia. She started out with some simple things such as what it was like to be around her and the kind of person she was. She then shared some of the fondest memories she had of spending time with her mother as a child. The pride and expressions of joy shown in her eyes as she talked about Anastasia made Peter wish he could've met her at least once.

"She must've been something else...It would've been my honour to meet her."

Sable smiled gently as she replied. "She would've liked both share a similar sense of humour." Anastasia was one who enjoyed a good joke every now and then and there was little doubt in Sable's mind that she would've loved the humour Peter possessed.

"Now I really wish I could've met her. You know how rare it is to find someone who appreciates my jokes?" Peter asked, mirth evident in his voice.

She only shook her head in amusement before looking out the front window and seeing her house in close vicinity. She pulled up to the driveway of her home and stopped the car. The rain had lessened by a slight margin but still fell heavily as they stepped out. The front door opened as Sable slipped her arm around Peter's and they were both greeted by one of her maids.

"_Welcome back, Ms. Sablinova." _The blonde woman bowed slightly. She gave a brief curious glance at the sight of her employer whose arm was locked with the handsome hazel haired man before handing both a dry towel.

Sable nodded in acknowledgement and addressed the blonde with her instructions as she dried off her hair.

"_Bring the bags out from the back of the car and take them towards Peter's room. See to it that dinner is prepared when we are finished changing." _Sable didn't realize how much time had passed until she pulled up to her house. It was already very late in the afternoon and well on to the early hours of the evening. Then again, she had been much too busy enjoying her kiss with Peter to really care about the time.

The maid bowed and took the towels back as she left to do as she was instructed. Peter and Sable walked inside and made their way upstairs to their respective rooms. They stopped when they reached his room and Sable turned to face Peter.

"I hope you don't mind an early dinner. We did skip lunch after all." she said.

"Well...I'm certainly not complaining as to why we did." Peter replied with a small grin.

Sable blushed a little with a grin of her own. "Nor am I and I have a good feeling that you won't be disappointed with what I have in mind for us later on tonight either." The strong hint of seductiveness in her voice was easily caught by Peter and this time it was his turn to blush as he barely managed to return a sheepish smile.

She giggled at the sight of his expression. It was rare to see both the qualities of cute and handsome work perfectly together but Peter somehow made it possible. Sable held both his hands and pulled herself closer, giving Peter another quick kiss before parting again.

"I'll see you downstairs, Handsome." she whispered and with that, headed back towards her room. Peter sighed to himself as he watched her walk, taking notice of the extra sway in her hips that he knew was meant for his eyes only.

'God or whatever other cosmic powered person is out there, this better not be a bad joke you're playing on me...again. That would be a really cruel move, even for you.' He mused. Thankfully his Parker luck hadn't struck at the worst moment yet but he wasn't going to let his guard down just in case.

Peter shook his head and entered his room. Beside the bed, he noticed his Anti-Six armour variant laid out on the desk. Peter smiled as he walked over and picked up the chest piece. The armour was cleaned of the blood he bled in the previous fight and some of the dents were notably gone. No doubt one of Sable's maids must've picked up his costume and washed it for him. He examined the other pieces of his armour and found them to be equally cleaned as well. The webshooters in his gauntlets were left untouched and still empty of webfluid.

A knock at the door brought his attention away from his armoured costume. He walked towards the door and opened it, revealing the blonde maid whose arms was full of his bags of purchases. It was obvious to Peter that she was having a little bit of trouble keeping the bags from falling. Not wanting to let the poor woman struggle anymore, He grabbed two of the bags that were about to slip out of her grip and motioned for her to put the rest by the drawer.

Peter wasn't too sure if the woman understood english as Sofia did but decided to speak anyways. "Sorry about the bags. I didn't realize we bought that much just for me."

The blonde smiled politely as she placed the rest of the bags down.

"It is alright, sir. Thank you for helping me." She replied with an accent.

"Please, call me Peter. I was never one for the whole sir thing." He said as he extended his hand.

She looked a little surprise at the offered hand briefly before she smiled and shook it.

"It is an honour, Peter. My name is Aurelie...is it alright if I ask you something?"

"Uh ok, shoot."

Though she only had a brief look, Aurelie couldn't help but notice her employer seemed to be the happiest she had ever seen her to be in the years she's worked for her. Granted it wasn't openly expressed but the expressions of joy in her eyes told the story relatively well and she suspected the main reason as to why that was was because of Peter.

"Peter, are you and Ms. Sablinova...together?" She asked bluntly. Aurelie understood her majesty's personality very well from the years she's worked for her and to say that it was very difficult to win her heart would've been the understatement of a lifetime.

To his credit, Peter only raised his eyes slightly in surprise before he laughed nervously while rubbing the back of his head.

"You must be very good at reading people. Were we that obvious?"

Aurelie only smirked. "There was a sign of joy in her eyes, a sign that's expressed only when you are with her...that and I did see her kiss you as I was about to come up the stairs."

"You did? Heh...no point in hiding it then. Yeah, we're in love." Peter stated honestly. "What I feel for her and her for me was something we had known for a long time but we revealed our feelings for each other very recently."

As soon as he finished speaking, he noticed Aurelie's eyes maintaining a strong gaze at him. It looked as though she was evaluating something and while he didn't really have any problems with that, the woman's stare was a bit unnerving.

"Uh, something on my face?" Peter lamely uttered.

Aurelie blinked once at the sound of his voice and the cold searching gaze she had changed back to the warm welcoming sort. She was judging for herself if Peter was the right man for Silver Sablinova, the Queen of Symkaria. Despite being her employee, Aurelie considered her majesty a close friend and she wanted to be sure she was in good hands.

But she could not see any kind of dishonour in Peter's eyes and there was a strong sense of responsibility and good morality that emanated from him. The fact that Silver Sablinova had personally invited Peter to stay at her private home meant that he was a man who had gained her complete trust; a task that she knew was impossible for most people.

"Sorry about that." Aurelie smiled apologetically. "I'm glad you're the one Ms. Sablinova fell in love with, Peter."

He breathed a sigh of relief after hearing what sounded like a word of approval towards his relationship with Sable...and partly because Aurelie didn't have that scary look on her face anymore.

"In any event, I should return to my duties. It was a pleasure to meet you." The blonde woman bowed and turned towards the door. Just before she exited, Aurelie stopped and looked back at Peter with a warm smile.

"Thank you...for giving her a chance at happiness." Aurelie stated before she promptly left the room.

Peter was confused by what she meant by that but he decided to think about it later as he grabbed some of his newly bought clothes and headed into the bathroom. He wasn't sure if Sable was already downstairs but he didn't want to keep her waiting.

It took less than fifteen minutes for him to get out of the shower and get dressed. As Peter was about to exit the room and head downstairs, he caught sight of the formal black suit that Sable had picked out for him. It was awkwardly placed on his bed, thanks to him randomly taking the clothes out of the bags before he entered the shower.

Taking a second look at it as he picked it up, Peter admitted it was actually very well designed. The smoothness of the fabric and the top collar which was unusually a little looser than the other suits he had worn in the past seemed to be intentionally done for the sake of maximum comfort.

'Maybe I should come here more often the next time I need new clothes.' he thought while hanging the suit on the closet handle by it's coat hanger.

Closing the door as he exited his room, Peter was about to turn for the stairs when he felt something wrap around him. He smiled after looking to see it was Sable hugging him from behind and the smile grew wider when she pressed herself into him more firmly.

"Did you miss me?" Sable whispered in his ear.

"More than you could imagine," Peter said in a jokingly hurt tone. "The last 15 minutes without you was almost unbearable."

Sable chuckled at that as she turned Peter around and playfully pulled his nose.

"My sincerest apologies for not being there, you poor thing." She quipped, humour heavily evident in her voice. She placed her arm around Peter's and began to lead him down the stairs.

Normally Sable would've been finished showering earlier but she had been speaking with Sofia about her plans for tomorrow shortly after entering her bedroom. Sofia assured her that everything was set to go for tomorrow night. There was a special celebration being hosted at the Grand Palace in honour of a national holiday in Symkaria and as Queen of the nation, Sable was obliged to go.

She didn't mind going to these events but she had always gone alone everytime she attended and there wasn't really anything she wanted to do at these celebrations. Sable always passed the time by talking to her favourite cousin and her mother-like friend for the whole evening. Her cousin, Anna, was in her late teens and usually had something interesting for her age to converse about. There was always dancing at the celebration but Sable never participated in any of it. She knew how to dance as Anastasia taught her when she was young but she never felt completely comfortable with the idea.

However this year would be different because this time Sable was planning to attend the event with Peter. Of course, she knew he was currently unaware of the event since she had not asked him to accompany her yet. While she trusted that Peter wouldn't say no, Sable understood that she couldn't force him to go if he did decline.

As they walked off the last step of the stairs, Peter noticed the distant look on Sable's face as though she was deep in thought.

"Sable?" He called out, placing a hand on her shoulder as they stopped just before entering the dining room.

She shook her head lightly at the sound of Peter's voice calling her name and looked at him in the eyes.

"Sorry...I'm just thinking about something." Sable muttered.

"You want to talk about it?" Peter asked as he held her close.

Sable raised her head and kissed Peter on the cheek. "I'll tell you about it later. Let's enjoy our dinner first." She smiled as she held his hand and walked with him into the dining room.

They were both greeted by Sofia who grinned when she saw Peter and Ms. Sablinova holding hands as they made their way to the table. From the second she met Peter, Sofia had a feeling there was something going on between the two and suffice it to say, she was very happy for the couple. She did feel a little envious of Ms. Sablinova though she would never tell her that. After all, It was rare for her to meet a man as funny and good looking as Peter and Sofia wouldn't have minded dating him for herself if she had been given the chance.

Despite that, she was more than happy for the both of them and she made sure to prepare their dinner tonight with the best recipes possible as a way of showing her support for their newfound relationship.

Peter was dumbfounded at the sight of so much exquisite cuisine placed right in front of him on the table. The delicious scent of the food did very little to calm his growing appetite and his stomach agreed when it elicited a less than subtle growl, which was easily heard by everyone present. Sable and Sofia giggled when he blushed slightly with a embrassed smile.

His stomach overwhelmingly approved when he tried out the first dish that Sofia served on his plate and the first bite soon turned into many as Peter graciously ate a little bit of everything she cooked up for tonight. In the midst of dinner, Peter decided to talk about some of the funny things he's seen and experienced in his work as Spider-Man. It was a good thing that neither of them were eating when he got to some of the more humorous yet bit embarassing parts since they were having some difficulty controlling their laughter. Occasionally, Sofia and Sable would add to the conversation with Sable sharing some of the adventures she's had with Peter over the years and Sofia curiously asking about his web-swinging. With their combined efforts, they made him promise to take them both web-swinging in the city sometime before he left.

It took a little bit but eventually Peter and his two lovely companions felt as though they were gonna explode if they ate anymore. It took Sofia a tremendous amount of effort to get out of her seat so she could start washing the dishes. She tried to let Peter and Ms. Sablinova know that she could handle it herself when they got up to help her but to no avail.

"We're gonna have to work off all this food anyways, besides it is our fault that there's so many plates to wash." Peter said as he placed his handful of dishes into the sink and started scrubbing. Sable simply nodded in agreement and grabbed a towel to help dry the dishes.

Sofia sighed in defeat and went to clear the table. "Is this ok with you, Ms. Sablinova?"

Her employer looked at her and smiled. "I would hate to think that you believe I'm not capable of cleaning on my own, Sofia."

Peter looked on in amusement at the slightly worried expression on her face as she tried to find the right words to say. "N-no, of course not. My apologies if I insulted you."

Sable smirked and decided to relieve the poor brunette of the false sense of worry she placed in her.

"At ease, Sofia. I was merely joking...although I would suggest you bring the plates in your hands here unless you wish to carry them for the whole night."

Sofia blushed and mumbled something about being pranked as she set the remainder of the plates into the sink. She picked up a towel so she could help Ms. Sablinova dry the cleaned dishes.

The sounds of plates and utensils clattering and water dripping was clearly heard as all three cleaned and dried away. Every now and then, Peter would tell a joke so as to keep the mood pleasant. Sofia and Sable's reactions varied with each joke ranging from light laughter to a small smile or looks of confusion since there were some that they apparently didn't get.

As Peter scrubbed away at the last plate, he thought of a question he had wanted to ask ever since he went into the city with Sable.

"Sable? there's something I've been wondering about for a while." Peter said while handing her the last plate.

She looked at him curiously as she dried the plate. "Of course, what is it?"

"Well, with you being the Queen of Symkaria, I was expecting more of a...awed response from your people here when we ventured to the city."

This was something that Peter was a little suprised about. Usually back at home, whenever a famous idol or actress and actor walked the streets, they were instantly mobbed by the public for autographs or pictures. On the same token though it didn't happen very often, whenever a head of government ventured out to the public, the entire city would know almost immediately and the press would aggresively surround the latter to present their questions.

But in Symkaria, that didn't happen with Sable. Despite their Queen walking hand in hand with Peter in public today, none of the people did anything. They simply gave her a small bow of respect and acknowledgement and then continued on with their daily lives.

Sofia decided to explain why that was.

"I don't mean you when I say this, Peter but what sets our people apart from yours is that here, we know when to leave people alone and Ms. Sablinova is no different. Since she is the Queen of Symkaria, we understand that she is constantly busy with keeping our nation in prosperity and has little time to rest in privacy. By giving Ms. Sablinova her personal space, that's one less problem she has to deal with."

Sable felt a sense of pride after hearing Sofia's words and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"_Thank you." _she said in Symkarian.

Sofia grinned at her in response before beckoning Peter to come closer. He did as she motioned for him to do albeit with a curious look on his face.

"Another reason is...well, how often is it you have a Queen who can kill as though it was second nature to her? We do value our lives after all." She whispered into his ear.

Peter simply chuckled as he moved away and looked at Sable who had the same curious look he expressed earlier. No doubt she was wondering about what Sofia just told him.

"I get it now. I'm glad to see you have the respect of all your people, Sable." Peter stated, pulling her close.

Sable grinned seductively as she wrapped her arms around Peter's neck. "As am I and thank you."

He could see the desire in her eyes and without warning, she hungrily pressed her lips against his. Peter passionately kissed her back as he ran his hands through her hair. He felt Sable's tongue pushing against his teeth, trying to reach the rest of his mouth to which he eagerly gave access to. Peter slipped his tongue into hers and they were soon both lip locked and tongue locked at the same time as they tasted each other.

Sable moaned at the feeling of Peter's tongue flowing around in her mouth as they held their kiss. The sensation she felt from his hands roaming through her hair only helped add to her already intense need for Peter and she brought her hands down to tug at his shirt, attempting to remove it from Peter's athletic toned body. She finally got it loose and began to pull it away-

"Ahem!" The loud but soft voice of Sofia cleared itself loud enough for Peter and Sable to hear, making them break their kiss and remember where they were.

Sofia managed to smile nervously at them. She certainly did not expect Ms. Sablinova to make such a...romantic move on Peter and she could only remain in shock as they pressed on with their very passionate kiss. It was like they had completely forgotten she was here and there was no doubt in Sofia's mind Ms. Sablinova and Peter would've gone even further if she hadn't reminded them she was still present.

"I'll finish putting away the dishes here" Sofia said, her voice still nervous. "You two go have fun together upstairs." The awkward look on their faces told the sudden change in mood pretty well before Sable grabbed Peter's hand and walked with him for the stairs.

"_Ms. Sablinova?" _The brunette called out just before they exited the kitchen. Sable looked back, her eyes warning Sofia to say what she wanted to say quickly.

"_Go get Peter." _Sofia finished, giving her a thumbs up.

Sable only responded with a brief but predatory smile before promptly exiting with Peter. She hadn't realized how long her stairs were until now and she impatiently wished they were on the second floor already.

Indeed, the second they stepped off the last set of stairs, Sable practically smashed her lips against Peter's, pushing him backwards until his back hit the wall. They remained kissing in the hall for a long moment as Peter once again slipped his tongue into Sable's, a move she lustfully returned. They soon felt the need to catch their breaths and they reluctantly parted their lips for a split second before immediately resuming their lip and tongue locking. Peter carried Sable by her waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck and made his way to her room while still maintaining the kiss.

Fortunately, the door to her bedroom wasn't locked as they pushed it aside and quickly entered. Peter and Sable still kept their lips together until they stopped in front of her bed. They briefly broke their kiss and looked at each other in the eyes, their eyes full of lust and desire for each other. Sable could barely keep her thoughts straight as she began to pull her shirt up over her chest. Peter's hands instinctively reached out to help Sable remove the clothing from her body. The shirt was finally lifted with his grasp, breaking their kiss to bring it over her head and throw it to the other side of her room.

Peter placed his arm around Sable's waist as he marveled at the sight of the silver haired goddess before him. Her naked body was flawless and well toned with the perfect feminine curves to go with it. Peter rubbed her perfectly developed breasts, eliciting a moan from Sable who aggresively pulled off his shirt and carelessly threw it to the side. His muscular body now free and bare, Sable caressed Peter's abdomen before pulling him into another powerful french kiss. Peter felt his arousal kicking in as he felt his penis grow harder and harder with each passing second.

Sable felt something poke her inner thigh and she looked to see that it was the very large size of Peter's erection that was poking her. She quickly brought her eyes to look at Peter with a devilish smile.

"You must be really happy to see me like this, Peter." Sable huskily said. She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down with her on to the bed. Peter now on top of her, bent his head down and began to kiss her neck, coaxing Sable to wrap her legs around Peter's waist as she moaned even more loudly. His right hand grasping Sable's right breast, Peter slipped his left hand through her silk panties and began to gently massage her wet sex.

"Ah Peter! I- " Sable's cry became incoherent as she felt Peter's hand run through her wet vagina. Her need for him rose even more if at all possible. Peter sensed this and looked back at her in the eyes.

"I love you, Sable and I need you more than ever." Peter breathed out. There she was underneath him, her silver hair loose and looking so very beautiful lying on the bed.

Sable looks at Peter lovingly, she really wanted him to take her now.

"Show me...how much you love me." She whispered.

Peter simply answered by pressing his lips to hers in a slow, affectionate kiss as he pulled off her panties.

...

The moonlight shined through the window of Sable's room as she stared at the ceiling, trying to catch her breath. Peter had passionately made love with her for the last two hours and she was still trying to regain some feeling in her legs. She couldn't believe how much he had taken out of her...not that it was a bad thing. Not only was Peter a great kisser but also an amazing lover as well. Hell, the things Peter did to her as she whispered sweet words in his ear would've definitely made any woman want to jump in the bed with him.

"You ok, Sable?" Peter asked worriedly as he wrapped his arm around her naked body.

Sable tiredly but happily grinned as she snuggled into Peter. "I'm alright. Although I probably won't be able to walk straight for a while tomorrow."

Peter chuckled lightly. "Maybe I should take it down a notch next time?"

Sable moved herself on top of Peter's naked body and cupped his cheeks with her hands as she looked at him with a stern expression.

"**Don't. you. dare.**" She ordered and from the seriousness in her voice, he knew she wasn't joking.

"U-understood, ma'am." Peter said wisely.

Sable held her stern look for a moment before she smiled gently and snuggled back into Peter.

"As long as you understand."

Peter sighed contently as he ran his hand through Sable's hair. Despite the little scare he just went through, he never felt better in his life. He was a little out of breath but that was understandable...considering the things he did to her in their long intimate moment. Peter didn't let himself go completely at first since he was afraid he would hurt her. Fortunately, he found no need to hold back much as she demanded that he give her everything he had.

Peter suddenly realized something he'd forgotten. Sable was the Queen of Symkaria...which meant Peter just made love with royalty.

Sable raised her head from Peter's chest after feeling his body slightly tense up and she gently placed her fingers under his chin.

"Something on your mind?" She asked, a little bit concerned.

Peter moved his head forward and gently kissed Sable's lips. "It's nothing...I just realized that I made love with a Queen. A beautiful and lethal silver haired Queen but a Queen nonetheless."

"Just beautiful and lethal?" Sable teasingly questioned.

Peter just smiled at her. "If I knew every synonym for beautiful and perfect, I'd use them all to describe you right now and it still wouldn't be enough."

Sable felt her heart warm up significantly as she captured Peter's lips in a long, deep, and powerful kiss.

"I love you so much, Peter Parker." Sable said softly as she looked up into his hazel eyes.

"I love you too, Silver Sablinova." Peter whispered back.

Comfortable silence soon set in as he bent down his forehead and rested it against hers. They both closed their eyes and Sable eagerly snuggled into Peter's arms as the need for sleep soon caught up to them both.

- **Considering Silver Sable's status as Queen, my interpretation is that she's like the current Queen of England. She's an important political figure in terms of spirituality as well as morality and still handles diplomatic missions...just without the restrictions and rules of an actual political leader in office. Of course, this is just my opinion and for all I know, it's probably incorrect.**

**- So uh, I really hope all of you enjoyed Peter and Sable's romantic intimate moment. Still feeling a bit awkward from writing it but it will pass. It will be some time before I develop the talent to write an actual sex scene and by that, I mean a really long time. As always, I encourage all of you to please review since I really need the feedback given my extended absence from writing and thank you all for being patient. **


	10. Chapter 10

- **After another lengthy absence, I'm finally back. My apologies for being away for so long, I've just been working hard in physical therapy for my left arm in the past month so I can regain the muscle and mobility that I lost from the lack of use. Unfortunately during that time, my creativity dropped significantly so writing this chapter was really hard since there were a lot of days where I couldn't think of anything...writer's block always comes at the worst times.**

**- As always, my thanks goes out to: The New Creed, Clouffie1986, NeoTyson, thebestoftherest, Coppa-Cola, Dragonskyt, auron187, Exile087, Le Diablo Blanc2, and 1 white tree for reviewing. It's good to see that many of you thought my first attempt at writing a suggestive scene was decent. **

**- In regards to this chapter, it's more of...drabble, for lack of a better term, per say into how Peter and Sable spend their time in the day before the special night starts. A lot more conversation than I'm used to writing but I managed to write out the best I could think of. **

**Let me know how it is later. For now, enjoy the next chapter!**

As the night eventually gave way to the early hours of the morning, Peter faintly felt something soft running through his hair. He opened his eyes and smiled when he saw Sable lying on top of him, her right hand caressing his brown hair with a warm smile on her beautiful face. The feeling of her naked body on top of his was not lost to him and it took a tremendous amount of effort to resist the temptation to take her again.

"Good morning, handsome." Sable whispered as she reached up to kiss Peter on the lips.

Peter eagerly kissed her back. "Morning...how long have you been awake?"

"Just a few minutes before you did. You have a very cute expression on your face when you sleep."

"I do?" Peter asked curiously, slowly sitting himself up on the bed.

Sable sat up as well albeit on Peter's lap and touched her forehead against his.

"You have no idea just how adorable you can be sometimes, Peter." She paused briefly before speaking again, this time with a more seductive tone in her voice.

"I'm thinking of taking a shower now, care to join me? After all, I do need someone to wash my back." Sable finished with a lustful grin.

Peter gave his answer by moving his head forward to kiss Sable again while picking her up bridal style towards her bathroom. They kept their lips locked together until Peter opened the bathroom door.

"How can I refuse such a lovely offer?" was all Peter mischievously said to the Queen in his arms before closing the door behind them.

...

Peter laid on the bed, slightly breathless yet feeling so elated at the same time. Taking a shower with Sable went a lot longer than it would've took if he had showered alone in his room. The hot water was completely used up but Peter and Sable had been too engaged in their "long intimate moment" together to really care about that.

"You ok, Peter?" Sable's voice rang out with mirth. He looked up and saw her slowly walking his way with a large smile. She was dressed in a black shirt and slender blue jeans.

Peter rose from the bed as Sable sat herself back down onto his lap and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I think I should be the one to ask you that, Sable." Peter said, holding her close. "I thought your legs were going to give out when we...finished."

She chuckled. "And isn't my being unable to temporarily walk straight your fault, Peter? Of course that isn't necessarily a bad thing."

Peter was about to say something to that when his stomach suddenly roared loudly, making Sable look up with an amused expression.

"You seem to be getting hungry a lot lately."

"It isn't often that I get to eat this well at home. I mean I can cook but it's pretty average compared to Sofia's or my Aunt May's." He sheepishly replied.

Sable grabbed both of Peter's hands and pulled him with her as she stood up. Her hands remained holding tightly onto his as she spoke.

"I guess I'll have to ask Sofia to make her best recipes for you for the time that you're still here..."

Peter noticed her voice trailing off into silence and knew there was something else she wanted to say.

"Sable?" Peter called out as he tilted her chin up so she was facing him.

Sable's eyes gazed deep into his hazel orbs, knowing what it was she wanted to ask Peter. What was holding her back was that small but annoying bit of nervousness tugging at her heart. Sable couldn't remember the last time she had asked someone out, she wasn't even sure there was a first time at all.

But Peter needed to know what she wants and so with a mental deep breath, Sable finally found her voice again.

"Every year on this day, there's a celebration at the Grand Palace to honour it for today is a national holiday. As Queen of Symkaria, I'm obligated to go. Peter...would you be willing t-" she stopped mid-sentence when he placed a hand on the side of her face.

"Willing to go with you?" Peter finished with a warm smile. "I would be more than happy to, Sable. I could never say no to you."

Her heart felt both immense relief and happiness at the same time after hearing his answer. She pushed her lips against Peter's for a brief but intense moment before slowly pulling back.

"Good thing you thought ahead with that black formal suit you picked for me." He added before his stomach decided to growl again.

"C'mon Peter, let's go eat breakfast. I don't want you to starve after all." Sable said, giggling when Peter blushed a little bit.

He nodded in agreement and quickly picked her up in his arms again. Sable was a little surprised but she couldn't complain about being in the comfort of Peter's arms and so she didn't resist as he carried her bridal style down the stairs.

Peter seemed to sense her small bit of surprise at his sudden action.

"Just my way of making up for rendering you unable to stand straight, my Queen." He jokingly explained.

Sable shook her head in amusement. "I'm grateful but let me walk on my own when we enter the kitchen. It'd be best not to let Sofia think that you injured me."

Peter couldn't help but agree with that. There was a very good chance Sofia and maybe even Aurelie would tease him and Sable about their "activities" last night. He didn't really have a problem with it but he was practically defenseless against teasing of any kind about his romantic life.

Stopping before the entrance, Peter gently let Sable down and walked with her hand in hand into the dining room. Much like he predicted, both Aurelie and Sofia were talking amongst some of their fellow employees at the table when they all turned around and saw them walking in. With the exception of the two he knew by name, the others excused themselves and went to resume their duties after bowing in respect to Sable.

Sofia and Aurelie remained sitting where they were with smirks on their faces. Peter could tell they were going to ask him some of the awkward questions that he dreaded to answer...not that he could. If Sable was feeling the same way as he did at the moment, she was doing a remarkable job hiding it since she was only smirking as well.

"_So Ms. Sablinova, how was Peter's...performance last night?" _Sofia bluntly asked. She already had a pretty good idea though, since the sound of her employer's moans of passion and pleasure was still vivid in her ears. After all, Ms. Sablinova's bedroom was only one room apart from hers.

Sable maintained her smirk as she walked towards her cook and leaned close to her ear.

"_Peter was simply amazing, Sofia." _She whispered. "_Amazing with a hint of incredible." _The memories of what Peter did to her last night and this morning in the shower replayed eagerly in Sable's mind, making her smile even more.

The brunette cook only grinned at the sight of Ms. Sablinova positively glowing. She hadn't seen her like this in all the time she's worked here but she was very happy for her and Peter.

Aurelie chuckled as well before beckoning Peter to come sit down. He had been standing beside Sable as she conversed to Sofia. He didn't know what they were saying but given how they were sneaking little glances at him and giggling, he had a good feeling they were talking about his actions last night.

The blonde maid smiled coyly at him as he sat down and looked at her.

"Had a good night's sleep, Peter?" she asked.

He only groaned at the meaning behind her question, making Aurelie laugh a little louder before patting him gently on the back.

"Sorry, couldn't resist." She said before serving him a huge plateful of wheat cakes and bacon on the side.

Peter's expression quickly changed to that of nostalgia when he took a huge bite out of the wheat cakes. Wheat cakes were one of his most favourite dishes to eat, especially when it was served for breakfast. Aunt May had always made it for him when he was younger but in the years that he's lived away from her, he missed the wheat cakes a lot.

Sable and Sofia picked up their plate of food and joined them at the table. Pretty soon, a pleasant atmosphere set in around the table. Lively and fun conversations were shared as they ate their breakfast. Peter couldn't really say much for most of the conversations were, as he guessed, teasing comments about him. Sofia and Aurelie purposely switched between Symkarian and English whenever they spoke just so they could see Peter's cute but embarrassed expressions. Sable contributed to the fun as well by talking about some of the amazing moves Peter used in bed last night.

That finally did it for the poor man as he buried his face into his hands and groaned. His cheeks felt like they were on fire due to him blushing heavily out of embarrassment. Sable giggled at his sudden reaction before deciding to show some mercy. She pulled Peter into her arms and rested his head in the crook of her neck.

"My apologies, Peter." she cooed softly. "we didn't hurt you too bad, did we?"

"I'll never get used to the teasing." Peter mumbled, raising his head from Sable's neck before kissing her lightly on the lips. She smiled at the warm gesture and cupped Peter's cheeks with her hands to hold the kiss a little longer.

Sofia and Aurelie watched the romantic moment between Peter and the Queen with amusement. It wasn't until Peter opened his eyes and looked to the side to see the brunette cook and blonde maid sporting mischievous smiles that he finally pulled away from the kiss much to Sable's disappointment.

"No kiss for us, Peter?" Sofia cutely pouted.

Sable glared at the brunette for asking such a thing from her lover, making Sofia raise her hands in a mock surrendering gesture.

Peter laughed nervously at the scary moment before speaking to relieve the tension.

"So Sable, when does the celebration start?"

"This evening at 9:00. I have to be there a little earlier so I can begin the event with a speech." she replied.

Peter easily did the math in his head and figured there was at least 8 hours before they had to leave for the palace.

"We have a lot of time to get ready then." he said.

This time, it was Aurelie's turn to speak. "I'm sorry, Ms. Sablinova. There are some things on the schedule for tonight's event that I need to discuss with you." She gave Peter a apologetic look.

Sable sighed and nodded as she got up from the table. She turned to face Peter with a small frown on her face.

"I'm sorry. I have to take care of this."

Peter smiled and kissed Sable gently again. "It's alright, I understand. I'll find a way to keep myself busy."

Sable grinned back. "Don't get into any trouble. I'll be back as soon as I can." And with that, she followed Aurelie out of the kitchen. Peter watched as she left before going back to the table to grab his plate. Sofia quickly took the plate out of his hands and placed it in the sink.

"Leave the dishes to me, Peter." she said.

"You sure? I'm more than willing to help." he offered.

Sofia only shook her head politely. "This is part of my job. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate your help but I have to rightfully earn my pay."

Peter nodded in understanding and left the kitchen, wondering what he could do to pass the time. The thought of his cleaned Anti-Six armour costume came into mind and he decided to check it for any signs of battle damage that may have been missed.

Opening the door to his room, he immediately went to his costume which was laid out on the table in separate pieces. Peter began his inspection with the chest piece since the majority of the hits he took in battle were mostly directed towards his chest. He traced his fingers along the edge of the inner area and grimaced when he noticed a medium size gap on the side. From the way the hole looked, Peter guessed it must've collapsed after a certain number of hits in the initial assault. Thankfully, it wasn't a very serious sign of damage but before he made any repairs, he wanted to check every part of his armour so he wouldn't miss anything critical.

It took a while but eventually Peter completed the inspection on his costume with decent results. Apart from a few remaining dents in the gauntlets and greaves as well as the broken webshooters, there wasn't any serious damage sustained. All he required now was the right tools to reattach some wires and mend the dents. He was about to go look for the equipment when he heard a knock at the door.

"Come in." Peter answered.

The door opened, revealing the person to be Sofia who walked in.

"Hey, Peter. Sorry if I bothered you, I was just wondering if you needed help with anything."

Peter just grinned. "As a matter of fact, there is something you can help me with." He grabbed a pen with a sheet of paper and wrote down the tools he needed.

"Do you guys have the tools written on the list?" He questioned, handing Sofia the sheet.

The brunette looked at the items listed on the paper and thought for a moment.

"I believe so." she slowly muttered, "Let me go check."

Peter nodded as Sofia exited the room again. He turned his attention towards his webfluid that was currently developing in separate cases. In the midst of checking his costume, Peter thought it was a good idea to restock on his webbing from the supplies he picked up in the city. It didn't take too long to make it at all since he's done it countless times over the years. Of course, the webbing was practically useless until he fixed his webshooters.

He grunted in approval after making sure the webfluid was being made like it should be just as Sofia entered his room once again, her arms full of the tools he required.

"Good news, we have what you need." she said quickly, placing the tools on the table.

He checked each of the tools and confirmed that everything he needed was here.

"Thanks, Sofia." Peter spoke as he grabbed his left gauntlet and began the repairs on it.

Quickly reattaching two wires with ease, Peter was about to move to the third when he noticed the brunette cook was staring at him with curiousity.

"Uh," he called out. "is there something wrong?"

Sofia blinked at the sound of Peter's voice calling out to her and she looked into his eyes.

"Sorry, sorry. I was just wondering how you were able to fix your gauntlet so fast." she said sheepishly. She had never seen a pair of hands work faster than Peter's just now when he reattached the wires in his gauntlet with the tool in hand.

"Oh...well I'm not really fixing it since the gauntlet was never broken. Some of the wires were disconnected in my last battle so I'm just reattaching them. That's pretty much how the rest of my costume is right now, just a lot of loose wires and frayed cords with some dents to hammer out. The only exception would be my chest piece since part of it collapsed on itself." Peter explained.

Sofia processed what she was told in her head for a moment before speaking again.

"How long do you think it'll take to finish?"

"Hmm," Peter said. "probably in about 2 hours if I hurry but then I might miss something if I rush it."

"Well...do you mind if I help?" Sofia offered, standing beside him.

He looked at her with a expression of surprise in his eyes. While Peter was thankful for the offer, he wasn't too sure if she knew how to work with some of the reasonably difficult wiring in his costume.

Sofia sensed his hesitation. "Don't worry Peter, I know what I'll be doing. Cleaning and cooking aren't my only skill sets."

Seeing no harm in letting her help, he nodded and handed her the right gauntlet.

"Let me know if you run into anything troubling." Peter said as he went back to finish the reattaching of wires with his piece.

The brunette smiled and immediately got to work. The sounds of tools clattering and metal clanging was clearly heard as they both worked side by side. Every now and then, Sofia would run into something that required Peter's expertise but it was never anything serious and he would patiently explain how to fix it before getting back to the piece of the costume he was mending. They continued to work in comfortable silence as time passed with Peter occasionally telling Sofia about how it felt like to be a superhero and some of the things he's learned over the years in his work as Spider-Man. Sofia listened attentively as she had always been curious about some of the issues superheroes dealt with in everyday situations, especially Spider-Man's.

"I still don't know how you deal with it..." she grumbled as Peter finished talking about his lack of concern on what the public thought of him. "If that were me, I would've kicked that lousy Jameson's ass a hundred times over."

He simply chuckled at that while finishing the last of the repairs on his webshooters.

"You have no idea how hard it was for me to resist punching his face in, especially in my early days...but it doesn't matter what they think of me. I'm Spider-Man because I have a responsibility to protect those who can't defend themselves the way I and my fellow heroes can. I'm not going to stop being Spider-Man just because half of Manhattan and Queens thinks I'm a menace." Peter stated solemnly and truthfully.

Sofia couldn't help but feel overwhelmingly impressed with his character...Peter really is the right person to be with Ms. Sablinova. She'd be lying if she said Peter's statement didn't tug at her heartstrings since this was the first time she had seen him to be relatively serious in the time he's been here.

Peter stopped working on the chest piece in his hand when he noticed Sofia staring again, only this time it seemed to be out of...awe rather than curiosity.

"Sofia?...Sofia!" He called, shaking the brunette's shoulder to wake her out of her daze.

The pretty cook shook her head quickly. She felt embarassed as her cheeks turned a dark shade of red and looked at the ground, struggling to say something.

"Y-You know..." she stuttered. "If it wasn't for the fact that you are with Ms. Sablinova, I would kiss you right now."

What she said took Peter off guard as he dropped the tool in his hand.

"W-what?" He couldn't believe what he just heard.

Sofia giggled at the shocked expression on his face.

"Relax, Peter. I respect your relationship with Ms. Sablinova so I won't try anything. I was just really impressed with what you said about your decision to continue being Spider-Man...that and I don't want to die just yet so I'll try to keep my hands away from you."

Peter was about to say something to that but was suddenly interrupted by a new yet familiar voice.

"A wise choice, Sofia. So long as you keep your hands off my beloved, you'll get to keep your job and your life." The familiar voice threatened in a calm but serious manner.

Both the cook and Peter turned around to see that it was Sable herself who walked towards them with a small scowl on her face. She stopped and wrapped her arms around Peter's waist all the while looking at Sofia with a icy glare.

"Peter is my love and my love alone, understood?" Sable warned.

"Yes ma'am." Sofia whimpered, a little bit scared.

Sable glared at her for a few seconds before grinning to relieve the poor brunette of her fear.

"Good." was all she said before turning her attention back to Peter. He had been watching the little scary interaction quietly, wise enough to know that it was best not to interfere.

Sable smiled warmly as she raised her head to kiss Peter.

"Ready to have lunch?" she asked, slowly pulling back from his lips.

Peter blinked twice before he turned to check the time on the clock. It was already 1:30, had he really worked on his costume for that long? Peter had been somewhat aware of the time when he was working but never really paid much attention since he was too focused on fixing his costume.

"It's already past twelve? Must've lost track of time."

She only shook her head, amused at Peter just said. She looked briefly to see that Sofia had already left to prepare lunch.

"I'm just glad you didn't do anything troubling to pass the time. How are your repairs coming?" She asked.

Peter grabbed his semi repaired chest piece and showed it to her.

"Almost done, I just have to patch up the rest of this gap."

Sable held the chest piece, examining the work that Peter had put into repairing it. She silently admired the excellent quality of the repairs Peter had made so far.

"Impressive work with the fixing, Peter." Sable complimented. "I'm guessing it won't take too long to repair the rest?"

He simply waved off the compliment politely before replying.

"It's really not that great and as for your question, it won't take long at all."

"Do you mind if I wait here for you?"

Peter smiled as he placed the chest piece on the table and moved to finish the repairs.

"Of course not."

Sable returned his smile and hugged Peter from behind while resting her head on his right shoulder to oversee his work. She watched as his hands expertly moved with the tool around the outside edges of the hole that remained. Peter reattached the wires within the circuitry with some minor difficulty due to one wire tangled into the jagged edges around the gap.

"So do you know what to say for your speech tonight?" He asked, still trying to get that one wire untangled.

Sable looked thoughtful for a second. "Somewhat. I never really enjoyed making these opening speeches so I usually wing it and make it as short as I can."

Peter chuckled lightly. "I never thought you would be afraid of talking in public."

"It's not that I'm afraid," she muttered with a small blush. "I'm just not the best with words when it comes to public statements."

Finally sealing the patch of new metal in the gap to finish the repairs, Peter turned around and wrapped his arms around Sable.

"Hey, at least you know what to say when it counts. If that was me having to make the speech, I probably wouldn't even know how to start."

Sable leaned into Peter's embrace. "I've never known you to be speechless or without a bad joke to say."

"The moments I've never had a joke or quip handy...they were the times when it was best to be silent." Peter said, remembering the many funerals he's been to these past few months.

She immediately understood what he meant by his words and tightened her arms around his waist.

"You know how to be respectful and that's just one of the many things I love about you, Peter." Sable stated.

Peter smiled warmly at her words. "I love you too, Sable...so you think Sofia's done making lunch?"

Sable smirked at the sudden change in subject.

"I believe so. Just don't eat too much for lunch, otherwise you won't be able to enjoy the cuisine at the palace."

Peter sighed, holding Sable's hand and walking with her out of his room for the kitchen again.

"With the way Sofia cooks, I can't promise anything but I'll try."

-** Yeah...Peter gets hungry a lot, doesn't he? I just thought given the nature of his heightened metabolism, he would need to eat a lot since his body processes food a lot faster than normal humans. The part where Sable is very possessive of Peter was fun to write. It was a suggestion from a friend, who took into account about Sable being very protective of what's hers and Peter being her lover is no exception.**

**- Well I certainly hope all of you enjoyed this. If any of you thought I dropped the ball with this chapter, I can't really blame you since the progession in writing it was very slow given the many days writer's block plagued me. I still encourage all of you to please review because what comes next is the special night at the palace itself and I could really use some advice and ideas so I can make it really good...or as best as I can manage. **


	11. Chapter 11

- **And I'm back with the chapter that everyone is looking forward to. I'm happy to say that my arm is almost back to 100%. Just another week or two of rest and it'll be good as new. **

**- I want to again say thanks to Dragonskyt, The New Creed, thebestoftherest, Coppa-Cola, NeoTyson, Exile037, SpideyLegend, roxasduelwielder, Higgs Field, auron187, and Hawk2012 for reviewing the last chapter. I'm glad most of you liked the last chapter and some of the advice you guys left was pretty helpful.**

**- I'll admit it, I was feeling a lot of pressure writing this chapter since I wanted it to be really good. I wrote this to the best of my ability despite the numerous bouts of writer's block and utter lack of ideas I had to deal with. I had to go back and revise this so many times and rewrite some of the parts that I thought at first was good but realized later on that it wouldn't work. That happened for quite a while until I finally felt satisfied with the end result. Of course, that's entirely up to the rest of you so I really hope you enjoy this.**

**So without further ado, here's the next chapter!**

'Ah...this feels nice.' Peter thought as the hot water ran down his body in the shower. Peter was currently getting ready for his date tonight with Sable at the Grand celebration hosted at the palace. He felt a little nervous given the fact that most of the other guests at the palace were probably of a higher class in life and he wasn't sure if he could have a proper conversation if he had to interact with them.

Shaking his head lightly, Peter got out of the shower after rinsing the last of the soap off his body. He exited the bathroom as he ran a dry towel through his hair, his eyes focusing on the formal black suit Sable had gotten for him days earlier just for tonight. Peter smiled as he traced the suit on the stand with his fingers, feeling the smooth material that it was made from. He turned his eyes away briefly to look at the time and saw that he still had an hour to get ready, not that he needed an hour to get dressed and leave for the palace.

Sable had already left for the palace an hour earlier so she could oversee the final preparations to the palace. It took her considerably longer to get ready what with the maids helping her with her gown and makeup. Peter understood how that was given his past relationship with M.J. but the odd thing was Aurelie and Sofia telling him to wait until he got to the palace to see her as they were helping her to look the best she had ever been seen. Peter thought it was a little unnecessary since Sable always looked beautiful no matter what she was wearing but nonetheless he complied since he wasn't willing to go against his beloved's wishes.

Before she left to get ready for tonight, Sable and Peter had spent the afternoon in her gym, sparring with each other. Sable noticed Peter's fighting style to be a bit more controlled and focused than the freestyle method she had grown used to seeing from him in the past. Peter explained to her that his good friend, Shang Chi, had helped him develop a fighting form that was more suited towards his powers so he could fare better against enemies that shared similar abilities. He could tell that she was intrigued by the Way of the Spider style and predictably asked Peter to spar with her. He remembered having to hold his super human strength and speed back immensely as he ducked and traded punches with her.

She wasn't one of the best former mercenaries for nothing as Sable more than held her own against Peter in their spar. She did have some difficulty with Peter's new way of fighting since his strikes were now more precise towards the parts of the body that it would damage the most and he knew how to block more efficiently than before. She was very glad to see that Peter had taken formal training in the martial arts since it dramatically improved his chances of winning in battles.

Their bout went on for quite a while until it ended, surprisingly on Sable's part, in a draw. Peter had managed to flip her over to her back but not before she kicked upwards to his chest hard enough to make him fall to the ground at the same time she did.

"Ow..." Sable muttered, rubbing her back.

Peter kipped up and walked over to Sable, offering his hand. She took it and smiled as he pulled her up.

"Nice job, that was one of the most challenging training sessions I've had." Peter complimented.

Sable smirked. "You're not just saying that, are you?"

Peter simply held her close before replying.

"I'm not, you're the first to fight me to a draw."

"Only because you were holding back. If you had fought at 100%, you would've easily won." she pointed out.

He shook his head with a grin. "I doubt it."

"What do you mean?" Sable was a little confused.

Peter only responded by pecking her lips affectionately.

"Hurting you is the one thing I'll never do." He whispered before leaning in to kiss her again...

The sound of someone knocking on the door brought Peter back to the present, prompting him to quickly put on the pants of his suit and tightened the belt.

"Peter, you almost ready? I'm coming in." Aurelie called as she entered.

Her eyes widened at the sight of a half naked Peter, his left hand holding the shirt of his suit. She could feel the heat of the blush on her cheeks as she stared at his muscular toned upper body. The small remnants of water drops from the shower trailing down his physique only helped to make her blush even more if at all possible since her face was already completely red.

This did not escape Peter's notice as he walked towards her.

"Are you okay, Aurelie?" he asked, placing his hand on her forehead to check for a fever.

"I-I'm fine!" The blonde maid stammered out, her forehead tingling from Peter's touch.

He wasn't convinced by that since her face was still really red.

"You sure?"

"Yeah...um, maybe you should hurry and get dressed." Aurelie hastily suggested.

He was still a little concerned for her well being but nodded in agreement and turned to put on the rest of the suit. As soon as Peter had turned around, Aurelie took several silent deep breaths to recompose herself. Like Sofia, Aurelie thought Peter was quite attractive as well but knowing his relationship with Ms. Sablinova, she didn't say anything out of respect...as well as fear for her life.

"I'm sorry, Peter." Aurelie said. "I should've waited for you to be ready before I entered your room."

He turned his head to look at her.

"Nah, it's fine. I should've said something to let you know." Peter replied, tightening his cuff links. He walked towards the mirror and took a final check at himself. The suit felt very comfortable on his body, a lot more comfortable than the suits he's worn in the past. The collar on this one was considerably looser since it didn't have a top button around the throat area, making it a little easier for him to move his neck freely.

Peter turned around to let her see. "So how do I look?"

"Oh my..." was all Aurelie could say as she stared and marveled at the very handsome image of Peter Parker in formal wear. Aurelie already thought he was good looking before but seeing him wearing the perfect formal black suit took Peter's allure to a whole new level.

With a heavy blush on her cheeks again, Aurelie finally found her words.

"You look amazing, Peter. You're going to be quite the sight when you arrive at the Palace." she truthfully answered.

He scratched the back of his head, slightly blushing at her praise. "Really? I don't think I look that good."

Aurelie stepped towards him and adjusted his jacket.

"Trust me, most of the female guests will have a hard time taking their eyes off you."

"Are you going to be there?" he curiously asked.

"Ms. Sablinova practically ordered our presence there and to enjoy ourselves since she always gives us the night off on this day...why?"

Peter grinned sheepishly. "I don't have much experience going to events such as these so I'd feel a little better if I was there with some people that I actually know."

"Don't worry," Aurelie reassured. "Sofia and I will come find you once we settle ourselves in."

"That sounds good to me." Peter replied, "I should probably get going now." Looking at the clock, he had about 40 minutes to get to the palace.

"The car's already here to take you there." Aurelie called out as he left the room.

Peter gave her a final wave before quickly making his way down the stairs. Walking towards the door, he noticed many of the other maids were staring at him in the same fashion Aurelie had when she walked in on him half naked from his shower.

'Damn...do I actually look that good?' Peter mentally questioned as he opened the front door. He took in a breath of the fresh air that met his nose when he stepped out of the mansion and made his way towards the waiting car.

He smiled at the blushing driver when he saw her staring at him. Clearing his throat to gain her attention, she shook herself out of her daze and gestured for Peter to enter the car as she went back to the driver's seat. He made himself comfortable and soon he was on his way towards the palace.

...

"I am so out of place..." Peter muttered to himself, surveying the very extravagant ball room he just entered after arriving at the Grand Palace. All around him, there were many guests of the upper class conversing with each other in Symkarian. Waiters and waitresses were walking around carrying trays full of refreshments and offering them to anybody in their immediate vicinity.

He felt a little bit awkward since he was just standing in one place so he decided to move around and check out the rest of the area. He made sure not to bump into anyone by accident as he walked. Peter was so occupied with observing the room that he failed to notice the appreciative glances many of the female guests were giving him as he walked past them. What Aurelie had said would happen turned out to be true...well mostly since Peter wasn't paying any attention to the looks he was getting.

Despite not understanding what most of these people were saying, he could tell many of them were having a good time. What really surprised him was the fact that there were some children here. Peter had assumed there would only be adults attending but then quickly realized that since today was a national holiday in Symkaria, all of it's citizens were celebrating regardless of their age. As far as he could tell, the children looked to be having a good time as well albeit amongst themselves and away from the adults.

Peter nodded politely at the people who made eye contact with him before spotting an empty chair and sat down in it to rest. His mind wondered about when Sable would appear to begin her speech. Peter was looking forward to seeing her soon and he was starting to feel a little anxious.

'Seems like high school all over again...all dressed up and I have nothing to do." He jokingly mused. Fortunately for Peter, he did not have to wait much longer as a voice over a microphone was heard by everyone in the room.

_"May I have everyone's attention?" _The spokeswoman said into the microphone stand. Peter didn't understand what she said but he followed the crowd's actions and gave his attention towards her.

The spokeswoman smiled. "_Thank you and let me be the first to officially welcome all of you to this wondrous night's celebration. From the looks of things, it seems all of you are already enjoying yourselves. I sincerely hope you'll continue to enjoy the rest of this evening." _She paused when the audience gave her a light applause.

Nodding slightly in acknowledgement, she continued speaking. "_Of course, this extraordinary night wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the strong efforts of one individual. An individual who has worked hard to make sure Symkaria and all who live within it's borders are safe and content with their lives. That individual is our beloved leader and Queen of our nation. It is my greatest honour to introduce to the stage, Ms. Silver Sablinova!_

She gestured her arms as a sign for the spotlight to shine on top of the stairs. The shadowy outline of a person walking to take the spot of the spokeswoman was clearly seen and when said person stepped into the spotlight, everyone in the room gave a little gasp as they applauded again.

Peter was too busy marveling in awe at how beautiful Sable looked to be able to say anything. Her natural silver hair was done up into a ponytail with fringes of it gently framing both sides of her face. A simple yet cute headpiece held her hair in place. Her lips glistened perfectly with the shade of light red and her dress...Sable's dress looked simply amazing, it was strapless and well decorated with the right number of small jewels on the edge of her dress. As she slowly walked towards the microphone, her dress flowed elegantly in light blue waves of silk from the waist all the way down to her legs where the skirt stopped at her heels. The silver trimmings that perfected the decorations seemed to shine equally bright as the small jewels.

Many murmurs and whispers about the heavenly beauty of their Queen was quietly shared amongst the audience.

'Heavenly is the perfect word. I definitely believe in angels now because I'm looking at one...Can't believe I'm the one she fell in love with.' Peter thought.

Up in front of the microphone, Sable was taking mental deep breaths before beginning her speech. This wasn't the first time she had spoken in front of a large crowd but she always felt a little uncomfortable with all the attention. Which was why she made sure her speech was short yet meaningful. Sable was really hoping to see Peter in the audience and made sure to keep an eye out for him.

With one final deep breath, Sable spoke into the microphone.

"_My thanks for the kind applause and once again we thank you for coming together on this night for this momentous occasion. Despite the many hardships and challenges we've all faced and defeated for the sake of the happiness of everyone we care about, it has all been worth it...although I have sometimes grown annoyed by the mutual enemy everyone faces at least once in their life...paperwork." _

Everyone chuckled at the joke and felt mirthlike sympathy for their Queen...after all, nobody likes paperwork.

Sable smiled warmly before her eyes finally sighted her love in the back amongst the crowd. She was mentally stunned at how handsome Peter looked in the formal black suit she had picked out for him. She blushed a little when he looked back at her with a grin and gave a little wave.

'Peter was already good looking to begin with but now he's almost irresistible...good thing my speech is short and almost over.' Sable half mused, about to wrap up what she wanted to say.

"_That aside," _she continued. "_I truly hope all of you enjoy this night as we celebrate our treasured holiday with our friends and loved ones." _Sable emphasized the words "loved ones" when she gazed at Peter again with a smile. "_I am humbled by all of your support and I am honoured to be your Queen..for there is no other nation I would rather oversee than Symkaria herself and with that, I declare the festivities to begin!"_

The second she finished her short speech, the room erupted into a thunderous applause. Sable nodded her head in acknowledgement and gratitude as everyone in the room clapped before they quietly dispersed amongst themselves to enjoy the evening.

Peter began to slowly walk towards her while still clapping his hands. Sable grinned and walked down the stairs. She carefully quickened her pace as soon as she stepped off the last set of stairs and without a second thought to those who were around them, wrapped her arms tightly around Peter's waist and held on in a firm embrace.

Ignoring the looks of shock from the people around them, Peter hugged Sable just as tightly and rested his head on top of hers.

"You never told me this was the palace of Heaven because you look like a goddess." Peter whispered.

Sable pulled back with a small blush on her face and gazed into his hazel eyes.

"You look pretty amazing yourself, Peter...then again the looks the other ladies here have been giving you was an obvious indication."

He looked surprised at that and finally paid attention to the crowd around him. Indeed, many of the female guests were eyeing Peter with appreciative interest.

She smirked at his shocked expression. "You haven't noticed until now?"

"No, not really. I was too focused on finding you." Peter answered honestly.

Sable felt her heart warm up significantly at his words when his stomach suddenly growled. The look of embarassment on his face almost made her laugh but she managed to stifle it into a giggle.

Peter had a small blush on his face. "Hey...it's not my fault the food smells so good. You're the one who told me to save my appetite for dinner here tonight."

"Come with me," Sable said, looping her arm into Peter's. "I want you to meet some of my family members while we eat."

Peter let her lead the path to where the rather big buffet tables were. Along every section, there was a variety of exquisite looking cuisine ranging from appetizers to the main dinner dishes and all the way to the large dessert trays. He felt his mouth internally water at the sight of all the delicious dishes in front of him. Sable giggled again at Peter's childlike expression as she watched him put a little bit of everything on his fortunately large plate. She grabbed her own plate and placed a little less food than Peter had on his.

When Sable got to the desserts table, it was there she had a little difficulty in making a choice. The numerous sweets ranging from the different variations of cakes to pies to ice cream and oddly enough, cookies made it very difficult for her to pick just one.

'Let's go with something classic and simple.' she finally decided, taking a slice of Angel Layer cake.

"You ready?" Peter asked from behind. The plate Peter was holding in his right hand looked as though it might fall over any minute if not for his superhuman balance.

Sable turned around and held his left hand. "All set, Peter...I hope you aren't nervous about meeting my family."

"A little bit but..." He admitted. "I am wondering about whether or not they'll like me."

"They'll love you, Peter, I'm sure of it. Besides you've met one of them and she's already taken a liking to you." Sable reassured.

That piqued his curiousity. "Really, who?"

She simply pulled him with her as she walked towards the table where her family was sitting.

"You'll know when you see them." She said, leading the way.

Peter didn't ask anything else about it but he was still curious. He didn't recall meeting any of Sable's family before so seeing the individual again was definitely going to be quite the surprise. Sable was currently trying to find the table where her family was eating but the fact that the room was full of occupied tables made it a little difficult to locate them.

Fortunately, a clear feminine voice called out her full name and when Sable turned to see who it was, she grinned. The young teenage girl waving her arms was none other than her favourite cousin, Anna Sablinova. As she and Peter walked closer towards her cousin's way, Sable's grin grew wider when she saw both of Anna's parents, Mortimer and Catherine, sitting at the same table while giving little waves of greeting of their own. Right beside her cousin's parents was the woman from the clothing shop that she considered to be a loving mother figure, Elisa, who smiled warmly at the sight of Sable and Peter holding hands as they walked towards them.

Anna stepped out from the table she was sitting at and quickly ran into the welcoming arms of Sable, who happily returned the embrace from her favourite cousin. Peter held both of their plates and handed them to a nearby waitress who offered to bring them to their table.

"_Silver!" _Anna exclaimed excitedly, her arms tight around her older cousin. Her parents and Elisa looked on in amusement at the scene.

Sable chuckled at the young blonde girl's excitement. "_I'm happy to see you again too, Anna. It has been quite a while."_

Anna looked up and smiled brightly at Sable before noticing Peter who was standing behind them.

"_Silver, who is this gentleman?" _she asked curiously, blushing a little when the man nodded politely at her.

Sable grinned and looped her arm through Peter's.

"_Anna...allow me to introduce you to my beloved boyfriend, Peter Parker." _She proudly stated.

Anna's eyes widened at her statement. Silver Sablinova, her cousin who was completely cold and professional in the face of everyone except for her family and few close friends, now has a boyfriend? Especially one who looked so very handsome. It wasn't just her who was surprised, Mortimer and Catherine also had a look of disbelief on their faces. Elisa on the other hand just smiled even more at Sable's statement.

Sable told Peter who Anna was and in turn, he extended his free hand.

"I don't know if you understand me but it is a pleasure to meet you, Anna Sablinova."

The young blonde girl got over her shock and eagerly took Peter's offered hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Parker. You look very dashing tonight." She said in fluent English with a blush on her face.

Peter bowed in a dramatic fashion and jokingly pecked his lips on Anna's hand. "Many thanks, my fair lady. Your kind words do me honour."

Sable along with Anna's parents and Elisa laughed at her flustered reaction as she tried to find the right words to respond. Peter was a bit more merciful since he only grinned apologetically.

"Sorry about that. It's ok if you just call me Peter though." He said, pulling a chair out for her at the table .

Anna nodded in acceptance and sat down beside Sable on the left before leaning into her ear.

"_Peter's cute." _She whispered.

Sable chuckled lightly. "_He's more than that...in my eyes, Peter is perfect."_

Mortimer extended his hand as Peter sat down on Sable's right.

"Honoured to meet you, Peter Parker. I'm Silver's uncle, Mortimer and this is my wife, Catherine." He gestured to the pretty woman sitting next to him, who waved politely.

Peter shook his hand. "Likewise, sir. And to you as well, Ma'am."

"It's a pleasure, Peter." Catherine said.

He nodded and turned his attention to Elisa. It took a few seconds for Peter to figure out who she was but it quickly dawned on him: this was the old woman from the clothing shop who sold the formal suit that he was currently wearing.

Elisa could tell from the widening of his eyes that he finally recognized her.

"It's nice to see you again, Peter." She greeted with a grin.

Peter had a look of confusion as he shook her hand. "You know my name?"

"Sable told me who you were when she and I conversed with each other that day you came into my store. My name is Elisa."

"Oh...in that case, it's a pleasure to see you again as well." Peter replied before his stomach growled again, causing everyone to laugh lightly.

"Now that introductions are done, How about we enjoy the wonderful cuisine before us?" Sable suggested.

Everyone agreed to that and began to dine on the delicious meals in front of them. It wasn't long before Sable's family and Elisa were treated to the cute sight of Peter wolfing down his food in a fast yet polite manner. While Elisa and Sable giggled at the sight, Anna and her parents were fascinated by how quick he was eating and yet was considerate enough to uphold the proper table manners. Peter stopped eating when he realized everyone was staring at him.

"Uh...sorry." He lowered his fork and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

Catherine waved off the apology. "It's all right. Although I think we would like to know...how is it that you're eating so fast and not spilling anything?"

Peter thought about whether or not to tell them about his life as Spider-Man. Balancing time between his civilian and superhero life was still a challenge and didn't leave him much time to sit down and eat peacefully at home. His habit of eating quickly and cleanly was an early developed result and it was kind of hard to go back to a normal pace.

"Force of habit...My life is kind of complicated and I don't normally have the luxury of eating in peace." Peter explained in a tone that told everyone it was best not to ask.

Sable already knew what Peter was talking about and placed her hand on top of his in a comforting manner.

He smiled in appreciation at her warm gesture before going back to eating in a more slower fashion. Everyone followed suit and it wasn't long before a pleasant atmosphere set in around the table. In between bites of their food, everyone at Peter's table conversed with each other. Elisa and Sable were talking amongst themselves, taking the time to catch up again. Catherine and her husband spoke to each other in Symkarian about the palace and how wonderful it was to see everyone together.

Anna was very curious about Peter being Silver's boyfriend and asked some polite questions to get to know him better. He answered most of them in honesty since the questions were usually things like what he did for a living and what living in New York is like. There were some inquiries that had to be carefully answered since Peter didn't want to reveal that he was secretly Spider-Man.

Anna however was happy enough to know just a little bit more about Peter. Though they only just met, she liked him a lot given his kind and humourous nature...and also because she found Peter to be really cute but she would never tell Silver that.

When the last bit of their respective desserts was finally finished, two waitresses came back to take away their empty dishes.

"Ah...that hit the spot." Mortimer and Peter said at the same time with a look of satisfied hunger, making everyone laugh again.

Catherine shook her head at her husband's goofy behavior. "I hope so, both of your plates had enough food to feed three people."

The two men at the table looked at each other in the eyes and simply chuckled. Elisa continued to laugh softly as she looked at Sable who was also amused by her uncle's and Peter's antics. The elderly woman's kind heart warmed up at the sight of her late best friend's daughter having fun again.

'Peter...thank you for being Sable's true love.' Elisa gratefully thought.

Mortimer stood up from the table and stretched his back. "I think I'll go walk off this extra weight. Want to come with, Peter? There's some things I want to talk to you about anyways."

"Sounds good, sir." Peter agreed and stood up as well. He already had a pretty good idea about what it was Mortimer wished to speak to him about.

"Don't get into any trouble." Sable and Catherine called out.

Peter leaned in and kissed Sable on the cheek. "I'll be back soon."

"I know. Anna looks like there's a lot of things she wants to talk to me about so I'll come find you if she speaks for too long." She whispered.

He nodded and followed Mortimer's lead. By now, all the guests were done eating and were now mingling with each other in the room. Soft but lively music was being played and there were some people dancing in the middle of the ball room.

"You having a good time here?" Mortimer asked, waving politely to a group of people who greeted him.

"Can't complain about anything so far, sir."

Mortimer smiled in agreement. "I always look forward to coming here on this night. One of the few times in the year that what's left of our family is able to get together."

Peter couldn't really say anything to that. Up until her recent marriage to J. Jonah Senior, his Aunt May was pretty much the only family he had left. Of course there was the Reillys and his cousins from that distant part of the family but for the most part, it was always him and Aunt May alone who stuck by each other's side.

As they moved past the crowd of people, Peter noticed that they were now stepping outside onto a very spacious stone marble balcony. It seemed wide enough to fit at least two dozen people. Mortimer smirked when he saw some of the nearby women staring at Peter with small hints of lust in their eyes.

"You're quite the ladies man." He commented.

Peter just laughed nervously before noticing Mortimer's expression turn serious.

"I trust you've already had an idea as to what it is I want to talk to you about."

"...Yes, sir." he answered with the same seriousness.

The older man, Peter guessed to be in his late fifties, grinned a little. "Call me by my name, son. You make it sound like I'm your commanding officer...Silver is my niece but she's more like a daughter to me. Being her uncle, I hope you understand that scaring her boyfriend so he will not dare hurt my niece in any way at all is necessary and is what I'm supposed to do."

Peter nodded in understanding. "Of course. I would've been surprised if you didn't talk to me about this."

Mortimer closed his eyes briefly before opening them again and stared with a steel gaze. "Answer me honestly. Peter Parker...do you love my niece, Silver Sablinova?"

There was a brief silence before it was slowly broken.

"I do...I love her with all my heart and there's no one else I'd rather be with. I can't guarantee that there won't be any obstacles but what I can promise is that I'll always be at her side when she needs me. When Sable confessed her love for me, I never felt more happier than I did at that moment. There's no way I'm letting her go and I'll always strive to be worthy of the love she feels for me...because I love Silver Sablinova." Peter honestly stated with determination.

Mortimer maintained his steel-like gaze into Peter's eyes. He tried to search for any signs of deception but found none. What he found instead was strong conviction in his eyes. The sense of responsibility and affection emanating from Peter as he passionately proclaimed his love for Silver was overwhelmingly felt by the older man.

His steel-like gaze finally softened with a smile of approval as he held out his hand.

"If only more of the younger generation were like you, son. I can tell you're a man of your word so I know Silver will be in good hands...take good care of her, Peter."

Peter smiled back and firmly shook his hand. "I will...I give you my word."

Mortimer nodded and walked back into the ball room, leaving the young man alone to ponder about what he said.

'I meant every word...' Peter thought, leaning on the smooth railing of the balcony. 'I'm not going to screw this up, like I did with M.J. and Carlie...or Gwen.'

He shook his head lightly and looked up into the sky. It was a beautiful clear night with the stars twinkling brightly up high. The full moon itself was shining bright and proud in it's rightful place. There was a cool gentle wind flowing around in the night air.

Looking back across the horizon in front of him, Peter noticed that right across the palace was a far but outstanding view of the outline of the city. Judging by all the lights that were still on, he had a feeling that the citizens who weren't at the palace were nevertheless celebrating tonight in the city.

The distinctive sound of heels clacking on the ground brought Peter out of his thoughts and he turned around, smiling at the sight of Sable making her way over to where he was.

"Hey, Peter." she greeted, standing beside him. "Sorry if I took so long to find you...Anna had a lot of things to talk about with me. By the way, Aurelie and Sofia just arrived and they were wondering where you were."

Peter wrapped his arm around Sable's shoulder and held her close. "It's fine. Your uncle and I had a pretty long talk with each other as well."

"What did you talk about?" She asked as she relaxed herself into his chest.

"He basically asked me to take good care of you. I promised I always will because I love you." Peter replied with a small blush.

Sable blushed as well at his words and happily kissed his cheek.

"You're already doing an excellent job of taking care of me." She said softly.

Peter tightened his hold on her, closing his eyes to enjoy the night air. Sable did the same thing and let the cool gentle wind flow through her hair. Everyone else that was on the balcony had already gone back inside to rejoin the festivities, leaving the two of them alone together as they relaxed in the calm and mostly silent atmosphere. The music coming from the ball room was loud enough to reach their ears but at a comfortable level.

It was mostly lively and fun music being played for a while but he finally opened his eyes again when his ears caught the sound of a slow yet familiar tune. His mind recognizing the song from a distant memory, Peter realized that this was the best time to ask Sable for a dance underneath the beautiful night sky.

(**Background Music: Choose any good romantic songs you may know of that is perfect to slow dance to.**)

Sable felt Peter remove his arm from her shoulder and she curiously looked his way. Her eyes widened when she saw him kneeling on one knee and holding his hand out.

"May I have this dance, Silver Sablinova?" Peter asked formally.

She didn't say anything at first but hearing the slow music playing and seeing that they were alone on the balcony, Sable smiled and took Peter's hand.

"Only with you, Peter." She answered.

Peter returned her smile and wrapped his arm around her slender waist as she moved her other hand to grasp his shoulder. The two slowly began to dance with the soft music playing in the background as they swayed back and forth.

For the first time here since she had become Queen of Symkaria, Sable was finally dancing in the most perfect setting with her lover, Peter Parker. There was no other way she could describe this moment...it was just perfect. The full moon illuminating at it's brightest seemed to shine most of its light down on the dancing couple, spotlighting them with silver moonlight as if to acknowledge their love.

On his part, Peter felt the same way. He was still finding it somewhat difficult to believe that this was actually happening but decided to close the thought and simply enjoy this perfect moment for as long as it lasts. One thing was for certain, He was never going to forget this moment.

Sable raised her head and gently caressed the side of Peter's face.

"You dance very well." She complimented.

Peter chuckled softly. "Aunt May taught me a few moves when I was younger. She said being able to dance was a necessary skill for a gentleman. Unfortunately, I didn't get to use them much until now."

She raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "No girl ever asked you to dance with them before?"

"You can pretty much count the number of times I've danced like this on one hand." Peter quipped, though he wasn't kidding about that.

Sable shook her head in half disbelief.

"Those girls obviously missed out then. You're very graceful with your footwork." she said.

Peter lightly pecked Sable's forehead and held her closer. "Heh, thanks...I'm just glad I'm able to have this dance with you."

"I'm happy that my first dance here is with you, Peter." She replied, resting her head back on his chest.

Nothing more was said as they continued to sway back and forth to the music. Sable listened to Peter's steady heartbeats and sighed contently as they danced. Peter rested his head on top of Sable's, his nose faintly enjoying her perfume's sweet scent of lavender.

As the song played to it's chorus, Peter surprised Sable by twirling her elegantly before catching her into a graceful dip. His face was now inches away from hers as she caressed his cheek again and he found himself getting lost into her deep blue eyes.

"You're so beautiful..." Peter whispered, slowly closing the distance between their lips.

"Just kiss me, Peter." She whispered back with a smile.

With only the full moon and stars as witnesses, Peter passionately pressed his lips against Sable's. Sable moaned and eagerly returned Peter's kiss as her hands held on to both sides of his face. Peter tightened his grip on her hips and put more of himself into the kiss. She held onto his face more firmly, not wanting to let their lips part any time soon.

Their lips remained locked together for a long time before the need for air caught up and Peter and Sable reluctantly pulled away from each other. Standing upright again, they both took in a breath of fresh air before Sable wrapped her arms around Peter's neck.

"I already said this once tonight and I'll say it again...I love you, Silver Sablinova." Peter affectionately stated, pressing his forehead against hers.

She smiled and gave him another quick kiss.

"I love you too, Peter Parker." Sable lovingly whispered, nuzzling his nose.

Unbeknowst to the couple, there was a small audience watching on as they professed and confirmed their love for each other. Catherine and Elisa were crying a few tears of happiness at the beautiful scene before them while Mortimer smiled softly as he held his wife. Anna was desperately fighting to keep herself from squealing in excitement after witnessing their kiss. Aurelie and Sofia only grinned having already expected to see this happen but they still felt happy for their Queen and Peter nonetheless. They all came here to look for the both of them after realizing they had been gone for a while.

Underneath the beautiful night sky, Sable affectionately kissed Peter once again before they both heard a high pitched squeal. Peter and Sable finally realized they weren't alone when they looked to see Sable's family and close friends watching them from the doorway. Anna couldn't hold back anymore after watching her cousin and Peter kiss a second time and had let out her squeal of excitement. Everyone looked at her and laughed in amusement after Anna's face blushed bright red out of embarassment.

-** Wow...this is probably one of the longest chapters I've ever written. I've never really commented descriptively on a woman's clothing before so the dress part was a bit of a challenge. So was the dancing scene since I don't really know how to describe dance in words but hopefully, I made it work. **

**- In any case, I really hoped all of you enjoyed this and I mean that. If not...just take a little pity on me is all I ask. As always, I encourage all of you to please review. **


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